Secret Syrian nuclear reactor on brink of creating atomic bomb materials when Israel destroyed it, UN admits

Israel carried out an airstrike on the facility in September 2007 but did not officially acknowledge responsibility until 2018. The US accused Syria of secretly attempting to build a nuclear reactor in 2008, one year after the Israeli strike, while the IAEA concluded in 2011 that the site was “very likely” a nuclear facility, potentially constructed with North Korean assistance.

Inspectors who visited the site last month found infrastructure consistent with a nuclear reactor, including cooling systems. Grossi said the facility was “almost completed” when it was destroyed.

A defaced billboard depicting Syria's ousted president Bashar al-Assad in Damascus, Syria, on December 24, 2024 (Getty Images)AFP via Getty Images

The IAEA also inspected a previously undeclared site identified by Syria’s new authorities, under former Al Qaeda militant Ahmed al-Sharaa, during which it found around 73 tonnes of natural uranium metal in the form of fuel rods.

Grossi said inspectors had faced difficult conditions to reach the material, which was hidden behind walls and in narrow passages. The uranium has now been placed under IAEA safeguards, with monitoring cameras installed at the site.

Syria’s new government has cooperated with the IAEA since Assad was overthrown in December 2024, allowing inspectors access to suspected nuclear facilities and disclosing previously unknown locations.

The IAEA board is expected to consider a resolution this week that would close its longstanding investigation into Syria’s past nuclear activities. Grossi said the agency would nevertheless continue monitoring nuclear material in the country.