Israel says the Syrian regime, aided directly by Iran, has established a secret plutonium production facility in Deir-ez-Zor as part of an undisclosed nuclear project.
The head of Israel’s atomic energy agency, Moshe Edri, has accused the Syrian regime of constructing a facility in Deir-ez-Zor to produce radioactive plutonium, with support from Iran.
Speaking at the International Atomic Energy Agency conference in Vienna, Edri claimed that the Syrian regime, aided directly by Iran, has established a secret plutonium production facility in Deir-ez-Zor as part of an undisclosed nuclear project. He noted that the regime has failed to fulfill its international nuclear safeguards obligations for over a decade, but did not clarify whether this project is new or related to the one Israel bombed in 2007.
Edri emphasized that Iran is a key source of destabilization in the region, asserting that it continues to develop a military nuclear program aimed at producing nuclear weapons and amassing significant quantities of nuclear technology, knowledge, and fissile material.
Grossi’s Visit
The Israeli accusations come six months after a visit by Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), to Syria, where he met with President Bashar al-Assad to discuss “the peaceful use of nuclear energy,” according to the Syrian presidency.
Following the visit, Grossi stated that he and Assad made concrete progress regarding the resumption of investigations into the Kibar nuclear reactor in Deir-ez-Zor. This marked the first visit by an IAEA official to Syria since 2011, part of an ongoing investigation that began in 2008 into the construction of a secret nuclear reactor in the Kibar area, built with North Korean expertise, a year before it was destroyed by Israel.
In 2018, the Israeli military took responsibility for an airstrike on a facility in eastern Syria in 2007, which was suspected of housing a nuclear reactor being secretly developed by the Syrian regime in cooperation with North Korea. At that time, the military released documents, including cockpit footage and photos of the strike, asserting that the reactor was under construction with North Korean assistance and was operational for only a few months.
In September 2022, the Israeli military published an intelligence document from 2002, which assessed that Syria was attempting to advance a strategic project. While the specifics were unclear, the document raised concerns about a potential nuclear threat.