Mihraç Ural, also known as Ali Kayyali (

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...

:علي كيالي), is a

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

Syrian Syrians ( ar, سُورِيُّون, ''Sūriyyīn'') are an Eastern Mediterranean ethnic group indigenous to the Levant. They share common Levantine Semitic roots. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend of both indig ...

Alawite The Alawis, Alawites ( ar, علوية ''Alawīyah''), or pejoratively Nusayris ( ar, نصيرية ''Nuṣayrīyah'') are an ethnoreligious group that lives primarily in Levant and follows Alawism, a sect of Islam that originated from Shia Is ...

militant and leader of the Syrian Resistance (formerly known as the Popular Front for the Liberation of the Sanjak of Iskandarun), a pro-

Syrian government Government of the Syrian Arab Republic is the union government created by the constitution of Syria where by the president is the head of state and the prime minister is the head of government. Executive power is exercised by the government. S ...

militia.

History

Ural was born in 1956 into an

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Wester ...

family in

Hatay Province Hatay Province ( tr, Hatay ili, ) is the southernmost province of Turkey. It is situated almost entirely outside Anatolia, along the eastern coast of the Levantine Sea. The province borders Syria to its south and east, the Turkish province of ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. He studied philosophy at

Istanbul University , image = Istanbul_University_logo.svg , image_size = 200px , latin_name = Universitas Istanbulensis , motto = tr, Tarihten Geleceğe Bilim Köprüsü , mottoeng = Science Bridge from Past to the Future , established = 1453 1846 1933 ...

. Ural was detained on 10 March 1978 over a bank robbery and was imprisoned at

Adana Adana (; ; ) is a major city in southern Turkey. It is situated on the Seyhan River, inland from the Mediterranean Sea. The administrative seat of Adana province, it has a population of 2.26 million. Adana lies in the heart of Cilicia, ...

. He escaped through a 150m tunnel in August 1980. After his escape from prison, he fled to Syria where he was granted Syrian citizenship by Jamil al-Assad. In Syria, Ural ran a splinter faction of the

People's Liberation Party-Front of Turkey The People's Liberation Party-Front of Turkey ( tr, Türkiye Halk Kurtuluş Partisi-Cephesi, THKP-C) was a Turkish Marxist–Leninist guerrilla group It was founded in 1970 by Münir Ramazan Aktolga, Yusuf Küpeli and Mahir Çayan, with the Peo ...

. In 1982 he was arrested in Stuttgart,

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

, and spent time in prison. Ural has led the Popular Front for the Liberation of the

Sanjak Sanjaks (liwāʾ) (plural form: alwiyāʾ) * Armenian: նահանգ (''nahang''; meaning "province") * Bulgarian: окръг (''okrǔg''; meaning "county", "province", or "region") * el, Διοίκησις (''dioikēsis'', meaning "province" ...

of Iskenderun, now known as the Syrian Resistance, since 1986. He was detained at the Fleury-Mérogis Prison in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

in 1988. Ural was accused of involvement in the

Bayda and Baniyas massacres The Bayda and Baniyas massacres were two widely reported massacres that occurred in May 2013 in the village of Bayda and the city of Baniyas, in Tartus Governorate, Syria, where Syrian Army troops, supported by paramilitaries, killed civilians ...

and the Reyhanlı bombings of May 2013, but denied responsibility. In March 2016 the Syrian

jihadist Jihadism is a neologism which is used in reference to "militant Islamic movements that are perceived as existentially threatening to the West" and "rooted in political Islam."Compare: Appearing earlier in the Pakistani and Indian media, Wes ...

group

Ahrar al-Sham Harakat Ahrar al-Sham al-Islamiyya ( ar-at, حركة أحرار الشام الإسلامية, Ḥarakat Aḥrāru š-Šām al-Islāmiyah, lit=Islamic Movement of the Freemen of the Levant), commonly referred to as Ahrar al-Sham, is a coalition ...

wrongly claimed to have killed Ural. In late January and early February 2018, Ural attended a Russian-sponsored Syrian peace conference in Sochi,

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...

. Turkish foreign minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu protested his attendance, saying "We want this person’s immediate detention and extradition to Turkey". Ural was badly injured on 6 July 2019, after his vehicle struck a roadside bomb while travelling along the

Latakia , coordinates = , elevation_footnotes = , elevation_m = 11 , elevation_ft = , postal_code_type = , postal_code = , area_code = Country code: 963 City code: 41 , geocode ...

Slinfah Slinfah ( ar, صلنفة, Ṣalinfah, ) is a Syrian town-resort, founded in 1929, administratively belonging to Al-Haffah District within the Latakia Governorate. It is located at an average height of 1130 metres above sea level on the An-Nusayriya ...

road, following which he was flown by helicopter to a government hospital in Damascus. The bombing happened in the context of the 2019 Northwestern Syria offensive, with

Syrian rebel A number of states and armed groups have involved themselves in the ongoing Syrian Civil War as belligerents. Syrian Arab Republic and allies A number of sources have emphasized that as of at least late-2015/early-2016 the Syrian Arab Republic ...

group Abu Amara Special Operations Brigade claiming responsibility for the attack.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ural, Mihrac People from Antakya Turkish people of Syrian descent Turkish expatriates in Syria Turkish Arab people Istanbul University alumni Turkish criminals Turkish revolutionaries