Turkish intel captures key plotter of deadly Reyhanli bomb attack
Turkey had accused Damascus of being behind the explosions
Yusuf Nazik was wanted for planning and organizing two car bombs that killed 53 people in the town of Reyhanli
ANKARA: Following a far-reaching operation, the Turkish intelligence
agency (MIT) has captured Yusuf Nazik, the key plotter of the bloody
bombing attack in Turkey’s southeastern border town of Reyhanli in May
2013. This attack claimed the lives of 53 people and devastated more
than 900 houses and about 150 vehicles.
The operation was reportedly carried out with the cooperation of Turkish
military forces, and was conducted in Latakia, a stronghold of the
Assad regime.
The operation is considered the most successful overseas intelligence
operation against a Turkish national over the recent years.
Anadolu Agency denied claims that the operation was carried out by the
intelligence or logistics support of a foreign agency. The operation was
conducted following a nine-month pursuit and a special team composed of
24 officials was responsible.
Nazik, who was brought to Turkey by MIT agents and interrogated, was
marked in the blue category on the Turkish Interior Ministry’s wanted
list.
In his interrogation, Nazik said the attack was ordered by someone
codenamed “Hacı” under a Syrian military intelligence group known as the
Mukhabarat.
He was living in Latakia, Syria, about 70 km away from the Turkish
border, with a fake identity. According to his testimony, he was
searching for alternative places to attack before the Reyhanli bombing
and was bringing explosives from Syria to Turkey.
“All current evidence hints at the active role played by the Syrian
regime in Reyhanli bomb attack because this person has been under the
protection of the Assad regime so far. He was sheltered, provided with
food and protected by the regime,” Dr. Eray Gucluer, a terror expert
from Altinbas University in Istanbul, told Arab News.
Gucluer said the Assad regime might have tried to trigger sectarian
conflict with this bomb attack by providing explosives from the nearby
territories under its protection.
Reyhanli is a key town in providing aid and shelter for Syrian refugees
fleeing civil war, as well as in supporting various opposition groups.
“The Turkish state may still trace back to the factories and the places
where the explosives used in Reyhanli attack were manufactured, and if
it concludes that the Syrian regime was behind this attack, many things
will change,” Gucluer noted.
According to Gucluer, in that case Turkey’s relations with regional
powers that support the Assad regime — chiefly Russia and Iran — will be
mostly affected and Ankara will increase leverage over Tehran and
Moscow about its relations with Assad.
While nine people were sentenced to life for the attack, eight suspects were being sought with an Interpol red notice.
Mihrac Ural, a Turkish national known as the leader of the Shabiha group
known as the Syrian Resistance (Al Muqawamat Al-Suriyah), is also
sought by Turkey for his involvement in the Reyhanli attack.
Ural, who now lives in Latakia, was also among the participants of the
Syria congress in Sochi in February this year, leading Ankara to ask
Moscow for an explanation and the extradition of Ural.
According to Oytun Orhan, a Syria expert at Ankara-based think-tank
ORSAM, this operation is significant in that it shows how far Turkey’s
intelligence operations can reach out.
“Turkey’s intel agency has recently improved its overseas operation
capacity in order to remove the problems at their roots and to eliminate
the leaders of the terror groups, wherever they are located,” he told
Arab News.
MIT has also recently increased its operations in the Sinjar area of
northern Iraq against the leaders of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, whose
high-ranking member, Ismail Ozden, responsible for northern Iraq, was
killed in Aug. 15 with the cooperation of Turkish Armed Forces.
According to Orhan, reaching out to such a stronghold of the Assad
regime in Syria was also meant to send a message to Russia amid the
heated discussions over an impending large-scale military operation by
the Syrian army into Idlib with the backing of Moscow.
“The province of Latakia is home to Khmeimim Air Base, currently
operated by Russia. Ankara wants to remind Moscow and the Assad regime
that Turkish intelligence and military forces can reach out to areas
where they are supposed to have established authority,” he said.
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