Assad’s Secret: Evidence Points to Syrian Push for Nuclear Weapons

Der Spiegel ^ | January 09, 2015 – 09:20 PM | Erich Follath

[Olog-hai]

For years, it was thought that Israel had destroyed Syria’s nuclear weapons capability with its 2007 raid on the Kibar complex. Not so. New intelligence suggests that Bashar al-Assad is still trying to built the bomb. And he may be getting help from North Korea and Iran. […]

Analysts say that the Syrian atomic weapon program has continued in a secret, underground location. According to information they have obtained, approximately 8,000 fuel rods are stored there. Furthermore, a new reactor or an enrichment facility has very likely been built at the site—a development of incalculable geopolitical consequences.

Some of the uranium was apparently hidden for an extended period at Marj as-Sultan near Damascus, a site that the IAEA likewise views with suspicion. Satellite images from December 2012 and February 2013 show suspicious activity at Marj as-Sultan. The facility, located not far from a Syrian army base, had become the focal point of heavy fighting with rebels. Government troops had to quickly move everything of value. They did so, as intelligence officials have been able to reconstruct, with the help of Hezbollah, the radical Shiite “Party of God” based in Lebanon. The well-armed militia, which is largely financed by Iran, is fighting alongside Assad’s troops. …

[Olog-hai]

You mean “Basher” who demanded that Israel give up the Golan pretty much continuously over the past decade or so?

[BobL]

Versus ISIS, yep. Absolutely.

[Olog-hai]

I see no difference between the two.

Bashar with nukes will not be like Pakistan with nukes; he’s already sponsored anti-Israel aggression in the past, and such an acquisition would only embolden him, never mind his Iranian allies.