Strategic Assessment

From reports that have appeared mainly in the US and British media, on September 6, 2007 Israel apparently attacked a nascent nuclear facility in Syria that was under construction through the help of North Korea. Some recent reports assess that it could have been something even more ominous: a facility for assembling bombs. While none of the major protagonists are showing their cards, there is mounting evidence that supports the conclusion that highly suspicious activity was underway at the site. The fact that according to satellite images Syria flattened the area that was hit – which leaves nothing for the IAEA to inspect – has convinced the more hard-core skeptics that something suspicious was indeed underway at the site. Already from the beginning, however, there were good reasons to believe that this was the site of some form of nuclear activity, particularly since it is highly implausible that Israel would have risked a war with Syria following a tension-ridden summer for anything less than what it perceived as a supreme strategic goal.