Syria To Hand Over Nuclear Material After Threats From Israel

File image.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will extract nuclear material from a hidden facility in Syria after a diplomatic breakthrough facilitated by the United States, Axios reported on August 10.

The mission targets “Site 99,” where the regime of former president Bashar al-Assad reportedly stored material, including yellowcake, intended for the Al-Kibar project.

While the material is unsuitable for nuclear weaponry, officials told the news website that it could be utilized to create a “dirty bomb.”

The Al-Kibar project was allegedly a Syrian plutonium-producing nuclear reactor built in the eastern governorate of Deir Ezzor with assistance from North Korea. Disguised to look like an ordinary building and concealed from aerial surveillance, the facility was supposedly intended to support a clandestine Syrian nuclear weapons capability.

Before becoming operational, the reactor was destroyed on September 6, 2007, in an Israeli strike that later became known as Operation Orchard, or Operation Out of the Box. The IAEA officially concluded in 2011 that the site was “very likely a nuclear reactor,” but Syria rejected the accusation at the time.

According to Axios, Syria’s new Islamist-led government, led by President Ahmad al-Sharaa, agreed to the removal as Israel threatened further military action to prevent access to “Site 99” — reportedly located near the town of Tell Qartal in the western governorate of Hama.

Israeli forces previously bombed the facility’s entrances to block entry and recently signaled they would strike again if the material remained, the report said, noting that Israeli officials also raised concerns about “detected movement” in the area, believing that Damascus was trying to secure the material.

U.S. officials told the news website that work at the site is ongoing and that officials expect the removal process to begin “soon” and end before the end of the year.

The deal with the IAEA follows the same policy of appeasement the new Syrian government has adopted towards any issue concerning the U.S. and Israel. Damascus has fulfilled many similar demands over the past year, without directly receiving anything in return.

In fact, Israel is even refusing to withdraw from the additional territories it occupied in southern Syria after the fall of the Assad regime. It has also not backed down from its vow to protect Druze in the southern governorate of al-Suwayda, which is now very much the only governorate outside the government’s control.

While the balance of power is indeed in favor of Israel and Syria is facing unprecedented economic difficulties, this policy of appeasement does not seem to be resulting in any progress in the relations with the U.S. or Israel. On the contrary, the demands to Damascus appear to be increasing.

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