How Israel Bombed A Syrian Nuclear Installation

Target: A U.S. Government image of the alleged nuclear reaction after it was bombed by Israel in September 2007. Daily Mail

The Silent Strike: How Israel Bombed A Syrian Nuclear Installation And Kept It Secret. -- New Yorker

ABSTRACT: ANNALS OF WAR about Israel’s secret strike on a site believed to be a Syrian nuclear reactor named Al Kibar. In March, 2007, agents from the Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, made a daring raid into the Vienna home of Ibrahim Othman, the head of the Syrian Atomic Energy Commission. Israel and the U.S. had become worried by Syria’s nuclear ambitions. There were suspicions about a large building under construction in the desert of northeastern Syria. The information the Mossad operatives recovered was damning: roughly three dozen color photographs taken from inside the building, indicating that it was a top-secret Syrian plutonium nuclear reactor. The photographs showed workers from North Korea at the site, and the reactor, from the inside, had many of the same engineering elements as the North Korean reactor in Yongbyon.

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More News On Israel's Secret Strike Against Syria's Nuclear Reactor

'New Yorker' reveals details of Syria reactor strike -- Jerusalem Post
Five years on, new details emerge about Israeli strike on Syrian reactor -- Haaretz
Exposé on How Israel Knew It had to Bomb Syria Reactor -- Arutz Sheva
Israel used 17 tons of explosives to destroy Syrian reactor in 2007, magazine says -- Times of Israel
Israel tight-lipped over report on strike on Syria reactor -- Israel Hayom
Israel attacked a Syrian reactor? News to me, says former army chief -- Times of Israel
Ashkenazi denies knowledge of 2007 strike on Syria -- Jerusalem Post
Ashkenazi: IDF attacked Syrian reactor? I haven't heard of it -- YNet News

The 'Father' Of Pakistan's Atom Bomb Also Helped Syria's Nuclear Program

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and a satellite image of the facility in Al-Hasakah Photo: AP/GeoEye

Syria Enlisted Help Of 'Father' Of Pakistan's Atom Bomb -- The Telegraph

Syria enlisted the services of Abdul Qadeer Khan, the Pakistani scientist, in a covert programme to develop a nuclear weapon, it has been claimed.

United Nations investigators say they have identified a previously unknown complex in the far north-east of Syria that bears a striking resemblance to a uranium enrichment plant Mr Khan planned to build in Libya, officials were reported as saying by the Associated Press news agency.

Further bolstering long-held suspicions over the scientist's connections with Syria, the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has obtained correspondence between Mr Khan and a Syrian official proposing co-operation, the officials said.

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My Comment: Syria's blunt decision to not let in nuclear inspectors is very revealing of its goals and intentions. Until this changes .... we can only expect the worse.

Making the Case Against Syria's Nuclear Program

Photo: Suspected Syrian nuclear facility reportedly bombed by Israel in 2007. Haaretz

U.S. Presses Nuclear Case Against Damascus -- Wall Street Journal

WASHINGTON—The U.S. and its European allies, seeking to pressure Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to end his violent crackdown on protesters, are lobbying the United Nations nuclear watchdog to formally accuse Damascus of covertly building a nuclear reactor.

Such a declaration by Yukiya Amano, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, could lead the U.N. Security Council to censure and perhaps penalize Syria in the coming months if it fails to provide information on its alleged nuclear activities, including at a suspected reactor site bombed by Israel in 2007, said U.S. and European officials.

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Update: U.S., EU prod nuclear agency over Syria -- UPI

My Comment: Syria's nuclear ambitions are not a secret, but with protests escalating in Syria .... I strongly suspect that the Syrian government has bigger priorities right now than listening to what the U.S. and Europe may think of its nuclear program.

Syria's Nuclear Program Under The Spotlight

Satellite image, released by the Institute for Science and International Security in Washington Feb 25, Shows suspected uranium Conversion plant in Syria. Ahram

Syria Suspected Of Nuclear Activity -- Washington Times

U.S., U.N. seek inspections at 3 sites for use of uranium.

The Obama administration and a U.N. watchdog agency want Syria to show inspectors a suspected uranium-conversion facility and two other nuclear sites possibly linked to the remnants of a covert arms program.

Since 2007, when Israel bombed the nuclear site at al Kibar, U.S. intelligence agencies feared the conversion plant near the town of Marj as-Sultan outside of Damascus was built to supply fuel to the bombed reactor, according to two former U.S. intelligence officers. Israeli jets destroyed the reactor site in September 2007, but not the suspected site at Marj as-Sultan.

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More News On Syria's Nuclear Program

Syria agrees to IAEA inspection of nuclear site -- AFP
UN nuclear inspectors to visit Syria plant soon -- Reuters
UN atom inspectors to visit Syria acid plant-source -- Reuters
Syria Approves Timing of U.N. Nuclear Site Audit -- Global Security Newswire
Syria OKs April 1 visit by UN nuclear agency -- AP
UN atom inspectors to visit Syria acid plant -- Ahram Online

My Comment: It is good that the IAEA is visiting this site, but what I would really like to know is why they are prohibited from visiting these other sites.

Is Syria's Covert Nuclear Program About To Be Exposed?

An alleged Syrian nuclear site bombed by Israel, shown in 2008. Getty Images

U.S. Considers Push For U.N. Action In Syria -- Wall Street Journal

WASHINGTON—The Obama administration is considering pressing the United Nations to pursue a "special inspection" of alleged Syrian nuclear sites, a senior U.S. official said Thursday, a move that could leave Damascus facing a Security Council reprimand if it doesn't comply.

The International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, has repeatedly rebuked Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government in recent months for denying IAEA inspectors unhindered access to as many as five sites potentially tied to a covert nuclear-weapons program.

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My Comment: This is a radical departure from President Obama's attempts to wean Syria away from its alliance with Hezbollah and Iran. If the US goes forward with pressuring the UN to investigate Syria's nuclear sites .... we will then have to assume that the US policy of engaging with Syria has failed.

U.N. Nuke Watchdog Finds 'Manmade' Uranium in Syria

U.S. images show striking resemblances between the North Korean and Syrian reactors.
Photo from The Daily Mail.

From FOX News:

The U.N. nuclear watchdog has discovered traces of "manmade" uranium at a second site in Syria, FOX News has confirmed, causing fresh concern about possible undeclared atomic activity in the Arab state.

The information comes from reports released Friday by the International Atomic Energy Agency, and will be taken up at the IAEA Board of Governors meeting set to begin in Vienna on June 15.

The IAEA has been examining U.S. intelligence reports that Syria had almost built a North Korean-designed nuclear reactor meant to yield bomb-grade plutonium before Israel bombed the facility in 2007.

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My Comment: With U.S. efforts now being employed at improving ties with Syria, I doubt that these sanctions will be severe.

ElBaradei Clashes With US Over Syria

From The Jerusalem Post:

The chief UN nuclear inspector said Monday that Syria had a right to his agency's help in planning a power-producing atomic reactor, in what diplomats described as a rejection of US-led efforts to block the aid.

The clash reflected tensions between Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the UN nuclear agency, and key Western nations over whether Syria should be given potentially sensitive nuclear guidance at a time when it is being investigated.

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U.N.: Uranium Traces Found In Syria

From CNN:

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (CNN) -- The head of the U.N.'s nuclear watchog, Mohamed ElBaradei, has said his agency found traces of "man-made uranium" at a site in eastern Syria bombed by Israeli aircraft in September last year.

International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors collected soil samples from the Al-Kibar site last June. ElBaradei is expected to release a report this week on his agency's findings, but said that he can confirm that processed uranium was indeed discovered at the site.

ElBaradei added the findings do not necessarily mean the Syrians were building a reactor and cautioned against rushing to judgment.

But he urged more "transparency" from the Syrian government in its dealings with the IAEA and deplored the "unilateral" Israeli bombing of the Syrian site.

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More News On Uranium Traces Found in Syria

IAEA chief: Traces of uranium found at Syria site -- AP
IAEA chief says report on Syria 'not conclusive' -- AFP
IAEA chief: Traces of uranium found at Syria site -- International Herald Tribune
Syria nuclear clues 'not damning' -- BBC
'No proof bombed site was Syrian reactor' -- Press TV
The IAEA's Curious Uranium Find At Destroyed Syrian Facility Site -- Threatswatch