After Explicit Israeli Threat, Inspectors to Remove Nuclear Material From Syria

Israel threatened to bomb a secret nuclear facility discovered in Syria unless the material found there was removed from the country. That was reported Tuesday by Channel 12 News. Following the threat, the United States reached an understanding with Israel and Syria, and inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will soon begin clearing the site and removing the material from Syria.

According to the report, Israel passed the information to the Americans several months ago, and since then there were “exchanges of threats” alongside diplomatic efforts to reach a solution. The agreement was reached just a few weeks ago.

As a reminder, Israel bombed Syria’s reactor in 2007, damaging most of the Syrian nuclear program. However, it later emerged that several research, development, and storage sites remained, most of them inactive. After the fall of the Assad regime, the IAEA signed an agreement with Syria’s new government that allowed it to visit the reactor at al-Kibar and several other sites connected to Syria’s past nuclear activity.

One of the secret facilities monitored by Israel is known as “Site 99.” According to two Israeli officials, the Assad regime stored nuclear material there that had been part of the al-Kibar reactor project. A senior American official said that, among other things, the site held powder produced from uranium ore, which can be used at a later stage in the uranium-enrichment process. According to that official, the Assad regime also stored “remnants” and additional nuclear materials left over from the al-Kibar project at the site.

The report noted that the material at the site could not be used to produce a standard nuclear weapon, but it could be used to make a “dirty bomb” — a conventional explosive device that disperses radioactive material to contaminate an area, rather than create a nuclear explosion. Israeli officials said that shortly after the fall of the Assad regime, the IDF bombed the entrances to the site to prevent access to it.