The International Atomic Energy Agency is preparing to extract nuclear material from a covert site in Syria. The site in question is Al Kibar, a location in eastern Syria that has been at the center of international nonproliferation concerns for nearly two decades.
A reactor, an airstrike, and years of denial
Al Kibar first entered the global spotlight in September 2007, when Israeli jets destroyed what Western intelligence agencies assessed was a clandestine nuclear reactor. The facility was believed to have been constructed with North Korean assistance.
When inspectors first visited the bombed-out site in June 2008, they discovered uranium particles consistent with nuclear fuel processing. That finding directly contradicted Damascus’s insistence that the facility had nothing to do with a weapons program. In 2011, the agency concluded that the destroyed building was very likely a nuclear reactor, which led to a referral to the UN Security Council.
Regime change opens the door
