IAEA Confirms Secret Nuclear Reactor Built Under Assad Regime
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has confirmed that Syria’s former government secretly constructed an undeclared nuclear reactor in Deir ez-Zor, eastern Syria, during the rule of Bashar al-Assad.
The reactor site, which was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike in 2007, was found to have cooling infrastructure consistent with a nuclear reactor. The IAEA said the facility was configured in a way that could have produced fissile material potentially usable for nuclear weapons.
IAEA inspectors also verified approximately 73 metric tons of undeclared natural uranium metal at another Syrian site, including around 55 tons in the form of nuclear fuel rods. The material is now under IAEA containment and monitoring.
The findings reinforce the IAEA’s long-standing conclusion that the Deir ez-Zor site was a nuclear facility rather than an ordinary military installation, contradicting the former Syrian government’s previous denials.
The reactor is also reported to have been designed with characteristics resembling North Korea’s 5-megawatt reactor at Yongbyon, amid longstanding allegations of North Korean assistance to Syria.
The IAEA has not concluded that Syria actually produced nuclear weapons or established that the Assad government had a confirmed decision to build a nuclear weapon. However, the agency says the undeclared reactor and associated nuclear material represented a serious proliferation concern.