UN report confirms Syria was building nuclear reactor during Assad rule
Syria’s Deir el-Zour site bombed by Israel in 2007 was an undeclared nuclear reactor under construction
Syria was constructing a nuclear reactor in Deir el-Zour under the leadership of ousted former president Bashar al-Assad, according to a UN report seen Tuesday by Associated Press.
Inspectors with the UN nuclear watchdog visited several sites in Syria in August and carried out verification work that confirmed the existence of a long-suspected nuclear site, according to the confidential report circulated to member states.
Based on this visit, the International Atomic Energy Agency reported that it is “able to establish that the former Syrian authorities had failed to report nuclear material, facilities and activities as required under the NPT Safeguards Agreement”.
This information included a nuclear reactor under construction in Deir el-Zour, a fuel fabrication plant and another site used for fuel storage during the rule of Assad.
Under Assad, Syria was believed to have operated an extensive undeclared nuclear programme that included a nuclear reactor built by North Korea in eastern Deir el-Zour province. Following Assad’s ouster, the new government agreed to give IAEA inspectors access to suspected former nuclear sites.
The site in Deir el-Zour only became public knowledge after Israel launched air strikes in 2007 that destroyed the facility. Syria later levelled the site and never responded fully to the IAEA’s questions about it. Israel is believed to have its own undeclared atomic weapons programme that makes it the only country in the Middle East with nuclear bombs.
