The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has confirmed that its investigators have found traces of uranium in Syria, reigniting long-standing suspicions that a building destroyed by an Israeli airstrike in 2007 was a secret, undeclared nuclear reactor. The finding was detailed in a confidential report to IAEA member states on Monday, which was subsequently seen by Reuters. The agency has been investigating the site, located in the Deir al-Zor region, for nearly two decades, and the new findings provide the strongest evidence yet to support its original suspicions.
The report states that samples taken last year from three locations “allegedly functionally related” to the destroyed facility contained “a significant number of natural uranium particles.” Crucially, the analysis indicated that the uranium was of “anthropogenic origin”—meaning it was produced as a result of chemical processing and was not a natural occurrence. The report stops short of an outright conclusion but lends significant weight to the IAEA’s 2011 assessment that the destroyed building was “very likely” a nuclear reactor that Damascus should have declared.
The 2007 Israeli airstrike, known as Operation Orchard, was a pre-emptive strike on a facility that both Israeli and U.S. intelligence agencies believed was a nuclear reactor being built with assistance from North Korea. While Syria’s government at the time, under now-deposed leader Bashar al-Assad, insisted the site was a conventional military base, it has consistently refused to cooperate fully with IAEA inspectors. For its part, Israel did not formally acknowledge its role in the strike until 2018.
The latest findings are particularly sensitive for the new Islamist-led government in Syria, which has indicated to the IAEA that it has “no information that might explain the presence of such uranium particles.” However, it has also pledged to cooperate fully and provide “full transparency” to address its past nuclear activities. The IAEA has expressed its intention to visit the Deir al-Zor site again to conduct further analysis and has received assurances from the current Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa that the agency will have access.
The discovery of processed uranium particles strengthens the long-held argument that Israel’s 2007 strike was a necessary act to prevent a dangerous nuclear proliferation. For the IAEA, the findings offer a chance to finally close a difficult and long-unresolved case. The agency has requested further access to the site and documentation to make a definitive conclusion and bring the matter to a close.
