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Further Reading
Nuclear Weapons Programs
Nuclear Weapons
"When the facts change,
I change my mind. Research Reactor
Al Kibar Reactor
What do you do, sir?"
- John Maynard Keynes
2007 Developments
2008 Developments
"The wicked flee when no man pursueth:
but the righteous are bold as a lion." Nuclear Weapons
- Proverbs 28:1 References

It appeared that the Syrian nuclear program came as a surprise to Resources

both the Israelis and the Americans. Neither had previously acted Evidence Points to Syrian
or spoken as though Syria had nuclear ambitions, and both acted Push for Nuclear Weapons
DER SPIEGEL 09 January
very peculiar after an Israeli air strike on a target in Syria, details 2015
of which were sparse until a 2008 report issued by the United
States concerning the incident. This would have explained Israeli
silence, namely that Syria had been working on it for years and the
Israelis had not noticed until very recently. It would also have
explained the complete incoherence of the US leakint in the weeks
after the event. If the US had already had a file on the place, the
place name would have been released quickly, along with a
coherent explanation for what purposes it was believed to be used,
which was not the case. The sequence of events in the news
coverage suggested that the US took the better part of September
and October 2007 to figure out what was going on and figure out SITREP

how their intelligence services had been caught unawares. Military

WMD Menu
Syria was a party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear
Introduction
Weapons (NPT). Syria had a standard safeguards agreement with Systems
the IAEA but, like Iran, had not yet signed or even begun Facilities
negotiations on the IAEA Additional Protocol. The Additional Agencies
Protocol was an important tool that, if fully implemented, could Operations
strengthen the IAEA's Countries
investigative powers to Hot Documents
verify compliance with NPT News

safeguards obligations and Reports

Policy
provides the IAEA with the ability to act
Budget
quickly on any indicators of undeclared
Congress
nuclear materials, facilities and activities.
Links
Syria had historically called for an area free
Intelligence
of all weapons of mass destruction in the
Middle East. Homeland Security

Space
Although Syria had long been cited as posing
Public Eye
a nuclear proliferation risk, prior to 2007 the
country seemed to have been too strapped for
cash to get far. Syria allegedly began a
military nuclear program in 1979 and had not
provided the IAEA with full information on all
its nuclear activities. Syria had claimed that it
was interested in nuclear research for medical rather than military purposes, but Israel and the
United States opposed sales of a reactor to Syria on the grounds that it would serve as an
important step toward the building of a nuclear weapon.

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 The United States was concerned about
Syria's nuclear Research and Development
(R&D) program and continued to watch for
any signs of nuclear weapons activity or
foreign assistance that could facilitate the
production of Syrian nuclear weapons. Syria
had made efforts to acquire dual-use
technologies, including some through the
International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA)
Technical Cooperation program. These
technologies could have been applied to a
nuclear weapons program.

In a speech to the Heritage Foundation on 6

May 2002 , Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security John R. Bolton
grouped Syria with Libya and Cuba as rogue states that supported international terrorism and
were pursuing the development of weapons of mass destruction (W MD). On 9 October 2002,
Undersecretary Bolton told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that "We remain very
concerned that nuclear and missile programs of Iran and others, including Syria, continue to
receive the benefits of Russian technology and expertise." The allusion to nuclear programs
prompted a complaint from the Syrian Foreign Ministry, which averred that Syria had been
calling for a WMD-free zone in the Middle East since 1987.

As of July 2003, the authoritative Nuclear Threat Initiative website stated that "Overall, Syria is a
country with limited nuclear resources and capabilities. Most of these are focused on research
and development and the practical application of radioisotopes for use in industry. It is unclear
how many nuclear facilities Syria actually has, but they all appear to be meant for the purpose
of advancing the cause of nuclear science and industry in that country... Although there are
some areas of uncertainty surrounding Syria's nuclear program, the program appears to be
rudimentary at best and focused on civilian and scientific applications."

A 2004 study for the Swedish Defense Ministry" concluded "In regards to nuclear capacity, all
available information indicates that Syria today focuses its nuclear ambitions in the civil sector.
Syria does not have any military nuclear program ambitions, and the lack of economical and
technical resources needed for such a program are vital arguments behind this conclusion."

At the 11 January 2007 Senate Select Committee

on Intelligence Committee hearing on Current and
Projected National Security Threats to the United
States Statement for the Record of Lieutenant
General Michael D. Maples, U.S. Army Director,
Defense Intelligence Agency mentions Syria in
fourteen instances, but makes no mention of
concerns about Syrian nuclear activities, saying
instead that "Syria has pursued development of a
strategic deterrent principally based on ballistic
missile, chemical, and, to a limited extent,
biological warfare programs, as a means of
countering Israel's conventional force superiority. ..."

Several Syrian official statements flatly denied US government revelations of Syrian-N.Korean

nuclear cooperation, the majority of which had appeared in the Arab press. In a 24 April 2008
CNN interview and a Washington Post article, the Syrian Ambassador in Washington accused
the U.S. of making false claims of Syrian-N.Korean cooperation to justify Israel's September 6
military strikes against Syria. The Syrian Embassy in Washington issued an 24 April 2008
statement regretting and denouncing "the campaign of false allegations that the current United
States administration continually launches against Syria, claiming the presence of nuclear
activity." The statement accused the US government of "misguiding the U.S. Congress" in order
to justify Israel's September 6, 2007 bombing raid.

An 25 April 2008 SANA press release repeated these themes, quoting an unnamed senior
official as saying, "This administration as it seemed was a party in carrying out the raid, and it is
clear that such a move by the American administration comes in the framework of the
negotiations connected with the Korean nuclear file." In a 26 April 2008 press statement carried
by al Arabiya, Syria's UN Permrep Bashar al-Jafari said his country would fully cooperate with
the IAEA in the ongoing investigation of his country's nuclear activities. In a 26 April 2008 report
by KUNA, Ambassador Moustafa pledged Syria's intent to "deconstruct" the American
allegations, contending "We are not in this business now and we do not see Syria acquiring
nuclear technology in the foreseeable future." He also added that one purpose of General
Hayden's briefings was to undermine members of Congress who favored restoring U.S.-Syrian
relations.

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In a 27 April 2008 statement to London Quds Press, Chairman of the Syrian Assembly
International Affairs Committee, Sulayman Haddad said "We suspect the intentions of the United
States. It has massed its forces in the region for several months. It wants to achieve its aims in
Lebanon through various means and it wants to emerge from its predicament in Iraq." Haddad
also suggested that the Syrian-N. Korean revelations were part of a U.S.-Israeli plot to "mislead
international public opinion," and he questioned the seriousness of reports of an Israeli
announcement that the GOI desired to evacuate the Golan.

The Syrian Government daily "Tishreen" ran a 26 April 2008 article rejecting US government
revelations of Syrian-N.Korean nuclear cooperation and accusing the U.S. of attempting to
undermine Turkish-brokered talks between Israel and Syria. Government-owned "Al Thawrah"
published two articles on April 27 accusing the U.S. of mounting a campaign of "lies" in a likely
replay of the 2003 Iraq scenario. The author called on the international community to respond in
a human and effective manner and prevent this "farce, the price of which the world is paying
with its security, stability, and peace." In the second article, the author accuses the U.S. of
fabricating lies to hide its "continuous failure in all the alternative plans they have so far devised."

Some independent observers thought it was all but inconceivable that Syria would seek to
construct a nuclear reactor in cooperation with North Korea, knowing full well its military
activities were under constant surveillance by Israel and others. The re-opening of the Syrian
nuclear file came at an bad time for the Syrian regime. President Asad had survived the Arab
League summit and was trying to improve Syria's image by traveling in the region. Asad and his
circle appeared to be struggling to find a coherent public relations strategy. For the time being,
the MFA and others were attempting to refute U.S. information directly, though Western media
coverage of Syria's side of the story appeared to be notably thin.

According to the IAEA, by 2012 Syria hadup to 50 tons of natural uranium, enough material for
three to five bombs once the enrichment procedure is completed. The Institute for Science and
International Security expressed its concern in September 2013. "This large stock of natural
uranium metal poses nuclear proliferation risks," the institute wrote. "It could be obtained by
organizations such as Hezbollah or al-Qaida or undeclared nuclear programs of states such as
Iran."

In 2015 Der Spiegel reported on an underground location just west of the city of Qusayr code-
named Zamzam, some two kilometers from the border with Lebanon. Construction of the facility
began in 2009, disguised from the very beginning. Excavated material was disposed of at
various sites, apparently to make it difficult for observers to tell how deeply they were digging.
According to tradition, Zamzam is the well God created in the desert for Abraham's wife and
their son Ishmael.

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