The message of the attack on the reactor in 2007 is that Israel will not accept the construction of a capability that threatens the existence of the State of Israel. That was the message in ’81. That was the message in 2007. And that is the message to our enemies for the future,” IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot said in a statement regarding the 2007 bombing.

According to Israeli and American intelligence, the Deir Ezzor site, known in Syria as al-Kibar, contained a gas-cooled, graphite-moderated reactor that was capable of producing weapons-grade plutonium, similar to North Korea’s Yongbyon nuclear facility. It was close to being up and running when Israel destroyed it in Operation Orchard (which the army also refers to as Nigun Shaket, or Silent Melody, and Mihutz Lakufsa, or Outside the Box).

While this is the first time Israel has taken official responsibility for the attack (the reasons behind this decision are discussed below), the rest of the world has not kept mum about the historic raid.

Reports about the 2007 Syrian reactor mission leaked within days, including specific details such as the number of fighter jets that took part in it — eight — and that North Korea was believed to have supplied technical know-how and materials to Syria.

Then-opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu even landed himself in hot water in the weeks following the operation for discussing it too candidly, telling reporters that he’d given his go-ahead to then-prime minister Ehud Olmert for the attack.


Immediately following the attack, Syria did not know how to react. Its official SANA news outlet initially reported that “air-defense units confronted [Israeli fighter jets] and forced them to leave after they dropped some ammunition in deserted areas without causing any human or material damage.”

Later, Assad acknowledged that a military facility had been hit, but denied that it was a nuclear reactor.

Olmert sent a message to Syria through Erdogan, telling Assad that Israel would not tolerate another Syrian attempt to build a reactor, and that Jerusalem was prepared to keep quiet about the strike as long as Damascus did the same, according to the 2009 Der Spiegel report.


Time passed. Netanyahu replaced Olmert as prime minister in 2009. Israel’s immediate concerns turned from Syria’s nuclear program to Iran’s, not that Tehran was ever out of Jerusalem’s sight. The Syrian civil war broke out. Deir Ezzor, specifically the area around al-Kibar, was conquered by the Islamic State group in 2014. People shuddered — what if?


https://www.timesofisrael.com/ending-a-decade-of-silence-israel-reveals-it-blew-up-assads-nuclear-reactor/

mukina2, osystein, HumbledbYGrace lalasticlala mynd44 seun

you guys should do the needful and move this to front page because israel saved humanity..imagine what would have happened if ISIS got a hold of those syrian nuclear weapons??when they captured the city where the reactor was located..lets educate people and dont ignore this thread because you hate israel.isis would have killed muslims as well

lalasticlala


Please do something!

L ool

ollah2:
L ool

why are you laffing?

a nuclear reactor in the hands of IS would have been disastrous but would have ended IS both d us and Russia and d un would have eliminated them all Russia and Us wouldnt be split on Syria they would be on one front