DİHA reporter Erdoğan Alayumat has produced important articles on the Hatay-Syria border, and was transferred to prison after being referred to the court yesterday (July 27) following a 15-day detention on allegations of “providing confidential state information for political and espionage purposes”.

Dihaber published Alayumat’s article that he sent in just before he was detained without photos, because his camera was confiscated.

DISPATCHING AND TRAINING

Hatay’s Reyhanlı district has been used as a military base since the war in Syria started, and is seen as one of the most important centers in the attack on Efrîn. The recent border activity is visible to the naked eye, while the former TEKEL warehouse now used as MİT headquarters dispatches weapons to dozens of radical groups in the FSA, including Al Nusra (Tahrir Al Sham) and Ahrar Al Sham. According to local sources, the dispatches have become more frequent in the recent weeks and the weapons are going directly to Atme, a city under control of radical groups.

WEAPONS CONTAINERS

The headquarters looks abandoned when viewed from the outside, but when one gets close it is very clear that it is highly guarded. There are CCTV and thermal cameras outside, while the doors are bulletproof. The walls around the building have been raised to obscure view and sensors have been installed to detect any and all movement outside. Small structures have been set up inside the building, and blue, green and black containers are ready and waiting in the yard. The content of the containers is not visible but they are reported to be taken out on trailers late at night.

The building stood empty for a while after the TEKEL factory was privatized, and has been redesigned as a MİT headquarters when the Syrian civil war first started. Border activity was monitored from this building for four years, and tactical and operational forces are provided for the radical groups here. For a long time, armed groups were managed from this building, and now it has become the headquarters to directly intervene in the Syrian civil war.

WHAT ROUTE IS USED?

Reports say there have been dispatches every day in this past week. The dispatches reportedly occur at around 23.00, and the lack of residential buildings near the headquarters facilitates faster dispatching. The containers are kept ready inside and then loaded onto MİT trailers to be dispatched to 2 separate locations. The first dispatch goes from the Cilvegözü-Kırıkhan road outside of Reyhanlı district center, detours into Bükülmez village and enters Atme in Idlib through a border gate opened only for military purposes. The second dispatch detours from the Kırıkhan road into the Antep road and passes through Hassa and Akbez districts to enter El Rai (Çobanbey) region through the military border gate in the Elbeyli district of Kilis.

SPECIAL OPERATIONS UNITS ON DUTY

Sources say the dispatches are made with civilian trailers and the plates are not visible as the dispatches usually happen at night. There are strict security precautions taken inside and around the trailers with every dispatch, and it is usually soldiers carrying heavy weapons wearing civilian clothes, or special operations police units are used to ensure security for the dispatch. After the dispatch is made, the trailers return to the MİT headquarters using the same route.

HEADQUARTERS THIS ACTIVE FOR THE FIRST TIME

Local sources say they have witnessed such intense activity for the first time since the MİT headquarters started their operations in the first years of the Syrian civil war. There are reportedly training sessions in the morning and dispatches during the night in the headquarters. The sources don’t have any information on who is receiving the training.