{"id":603221,"date":"2026-09-02T02:56:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T02:56:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/603221\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T02:56:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T02:56:08","slug":"iaea-says-syria-built-a-nuclear-reactor-in-deir-az-zor-under-al-assad-syrias-war-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/603221\/","title":{"rendered":"IAEA says Syria built a nuclear reactor in Deir Az Zor under al-Assad | Syria’s War News"},"content":{"rendered":"

UN watchdog says Syria \u2018failed to report nuclear material, facilities and activities\u2019 under Bashar al-Assad\u2019s rule.<\/p>\n

Published On 2 Sep 20262 Sep 2026<\/p>\n

The United Nations nuclear watchdog has confirmed that Syria tried to construct a nuclear reactor in the eastern province of Deir Az Zor under ousted former President Bashar al-Assad.<\/p>\n

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), in a confidential report seen by news agencies on Tuesday, said it visited several sites in Syria in August and carried out verification work.<\/p>\n

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Based on observations at the Deir Az Zor site, the agency said it confirms \u201cthat the cooling infrastructure which has now been uncovered is consistent with that of a nuclear reactor\u201d. The agency said it would continue to monitor the activities at the site \u201cas the excavation work progresses\u201d.<\/p>\n

Syria was believed to have operated an extensive undeclared nuclear programme under al-Assad that included a nuclear reactor built by North Korea in Deir Az Zor.<\/p>\n

The site only became public knowledge after Israel launched air strikes in 2007 that destroyed the facility. Syria later levelled the site and never responded fully to the IAEA\u2019s questions about it.<\/p>\n

Israel is believed to have its own undeclared atomic weapons programme that makes it the only country in the Middle East with nuclear bombs. Israel neither confirms nor denies having atomic weapons.<\/p>\n

\"SyrianSyrian Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shaibani speaks during a joint news conference with Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), in the former presidential Tishreen Palace in Damascus, Syria, August 18 [Mohamed Al Rifai\/EPA]<\/p>\n

Following al-Assad\u2019s removal<\/a> in early December 2024, the new government agreed to give IAEA inspectors access to suspected former nuclear sites.<\/p>\n

The agency took samples at the site in 2024 and reported last year that they contained uranium particles.<\/p>\n

In its Tuesday report, the IAEA said it was also able to \u201cestablish that the former Syrian authorities had failed to report nuclear material, facilities and activities\u201d.<\/p>\n

Besides the nuclear reactor under construction at Deir Az Zor, the IAEA listed a fuel fabrication plant, where the nuclear fuel for the reactor was manufactured, and a location where the nuclear fuel, as well as uranium scrap and waste, were stored.<\/p>\n

During the visit to Syria, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi and a team of senior inspectors also visited a previously undeclared site.<\/p>\n

The new Syrian administration notified the agency of the site\u2019s existence in a July 17 letter and invited the IAEA \u201cto cooperate with the Syrian authorities in the inspection and verification of the site and of any nuclear material to be potentially found\u201d.<\/p>\n

The IAEA said in its report that this new site contained \u201cnatural uranium metal in the form of fuel rods with cladding\u201d.<\/p>\n

The agency verified the material and confirmed \u201cthe presence of around 73 tonnes of natural uranium metal\u201d. The agency reported that \u201call of this nuclear material is currently subject to Agency containment and surveillance measures\u201d.<\/p>\n

The new Syrian authorities have also expressed an interest in developing a civilian nuclear energy programme and said any nuclear material found in the country would remain in Syria\u2019s custody under international safeguards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UN watchdog says Syria \u2018failed to report nuclear material, facilities and activities\u2019 under Bashar al-Assad\u2019s rule. Published On…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":603222,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1631,5208,85,4426,46,47,43,16010,8710,4713,20766,4497],"class_list":["post-603221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-asia-pacific","tag-bashar-al-assad","tag-il","tag-infrastructure","tag-israel","tag-middle-east","tag-news","tag-north-korea","tag-nuclear-energy","tag-syria","tag-syrias-war","tag-united-nations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=603221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603221\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/603222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=603221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=603221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=603221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}