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 by Staff Writers Jerusalem (AFP) March 21, 2018
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that Israel will prevent enemies from obtaining nuclear weapons after its military admitted it carried out a 2007 air raid against a suspected Syrian nuclear reactor. "The Israeli government, the (Israeli military), and the Mossad (intelligence agency) have prevented Syria from developing nuclear capability, and they deserve every credit for this," Netanyahu said on Twitter. "Israel's policy has been and remains consistent -- to prevent our enemies from acquiring nuclear weapons." It was Netanyahu's first comments related to Israel's admission early Wednesday that broke a more than 10-year official silence surrounding the raid, though it had always been widely assumed of being responsible for the strike. The admission along with the release of newly declassified material related to the raid comes as Israel intensifies its warnings over the presence of its main enemy Iran in neighbouring Syria. Netanyahu has also repeatedly called for a landmark 2015 nuclear deal between world powers and Iran to be changed or eliminated. The premier however did not mention Iran in his brief post. Earlier Wednesday, Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said the raid should serve as a message for "everyone in the Middle East". Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz was more explicit, saying it showed Israel would never allow nuclear weapons to be obtained by "countries like Iran who threaten its existence".
Israel defence minister says 2007 Syria strike message to enemies "The motivation of our enemies has increased in recent years, but the strength of our army, our air force and our intelligence capabilities have increased compared with the capabilities we had in 2007," Lieberman said in a statement. "This equation should be taken into account by everyone in the Middle East." Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz was more explicit, specifically naming Iran. "The courageous decision of the Israeli government almost 11 years ago to destroy the nuclear reactor in Syria and the successful operation following it sends a clear message: Israel will never allow nuclear weapons to countries like Iran who threaten its existence," he wrote on Twitter. Earlier Wednesday, Israel's military formally admitted carrying out the top-secret raid and released newly declassified material related to the operation. The admission comes as Israel intensifies its warnings over the presence of its main enemy Iran in neighbouring Syria. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also repeatedly called for the nuclear deal between world powers and Iran to be changed or eliminated. Netanyahu recently warned that Israel will "never let Iran develop nuclear weapons." The 2007 strike occurred at a desert site in the Deir Ezzor region of eastern Syria on what Israel says was a nuclear reactor under construction. It had long been widely assumed that Israel carried out the strike. Syria has denied it was building a nuclear reactor.
Israel admits 2007 Syrian 'nuclear reactor' strike for first time Jerusalem (AFP) March 21, 2018 - Israel admitted for the first time Wednesday it was responsible for a top-secret 2007 air raid against a suspected Syrian nuclear reactor, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledging to prevent enemies from obtaining atomic weapons. Israel has long been assumed to have carried out the raid and had been named by other countries as being behind it, but it had never formally acknowledged the strike or divulged details. The admission along with the release of newly declassified material related to the raid comes as Israel intensifies its warnings over the presence of its main enemy Iran in neighbouring Syria. Netanyahu has also repeatedly called for a landmark 2015 nuclear deal between world powers and Iran to be changed or eliminated. US President Donald Trump, who met Netanyahu at the White House this month, has said that the nuclear deal must be "fixed" by May 12 or the United States will walk away. After Wednesday's acknowledgement, Netanyahu said "the Israeli government, the (Israeli military), and the Mossad (intelligence agency) have prevented Syria from developing nuclear capability, and they deserve every credit for this." "Israel's policy has been and remains consistent -- to prevent our enemies from acquiring nuclear weapons." Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz was more explicit, saying it showed Israel would never allow nuclear weapons to be obtained by "countries like Iran who threaten its existence". The declassified material includes footage of the strike and pictures of secret army intelligence communiques about the site. A military statement lays out the case for why Israel carried out the strike at the desert site in the Deir Ezzor region of eastern Syria on what it says was a nuclear reactor under construction. Syria has denied it was building a nuclear reactor. "On the night between September 5th-6th, 2007, Israeli Air Force fighter jets successfully struck and destroyed a Syrian nuclear reactor in development," the Israeli statement says. "The reactor was close to being completed. The operation successfully removed an emerging existential threat to Israel and to the entire region -- Syrian nuclear capabilities." - 'Strategic implications' - In 2008, less than a year after the strike, US officials accused Syria of having sought to build a secret nuclear reactor and acknowledged Israel destroyed it in the raid. The UN atomic watchdog declared in 2011 that the Syrian site was "very likely" to have been a nuclear reactor, adding that information provided to it suggested that it was being built with North Korean assistance. Israel said in its new disclosures that secrecy surrounding the strike was necessary due to the sensitive security situation, noting there was the possibility of it provoking war. In defending the strike, it notes that Islamic State group jihadists later overran much of Deir Ezzor during Syria's civil war, while also saying that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad "in the past used chemical weapons against his own citizens." "The nuclear reactor being held by Assad would have had severe strategic implications on the entire Middle East as well as Israel and Syria," it said. While Israel's admission will come as little surprise, the declassified material provides details on what is widely known as Operation Orchard. The material speaks of an ultra-secretive operation, with few knowing details and a cover story provided. Israeli intelligence had picked up on what it determined was the construction of the nuclear reactor and followed its development, it says. Four F-16s and four F-15s were involved in the strike, with the operation beginning at 10:30 pm on September 5 and the planes returning at 2:30 am the following day. Grainy footage of the strike included in the material shows a target locking on to a building that is blown apart shortly afterwards. Israel determined that the alleged reactor was "totally disabled, and that the damage done was irreversible." Israeli armed forces chief of staff Lieutenant General Gadi Eisenkot, northern commander at the time, recalled in a video in the material meeting with his officers shortly before the raid. "I don't give them the exact details of the target and its essence, but I say that there's going to be a significant attack in the upcoming 24-48 hours, an event that in low likeliness could lead to war," he said. "Low, to me, is even 15 or 20 percent, which is a lot." - 'Message' sent? - Syria and Israel have fought in repeated wars since the Jewish state's founding in 1948. The two countries are still technically at war. Israel has sought to avoid direct involvement in the Syrian civil war that broke out in 2011, but it acknowledges carrying out dozens of air strikes there to stop what it says are advanced arms deliveries to Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah. Hezbollah is fighting alongside Assad's regime, like Iran and Russia. Israel has expressed growing concern over what it sees as Iran's attempts to entrench itself militarily in Syria. It also accuses Iran of seeking to build factories to construct precision-guided missiles in Syria and Lebanon that could be used against Israel. Beyond that, Netanyahu has warned that Israel will "never let Iran develop nuclear weapons". Eisenkot spoke of the "message" of the 2007 strike, while also making reference to a 1981 Israeli raid against a nuclear reactor in Saddam Hussein's Iraq. "The message from the 2007 reactor attack was that Israel won't accept the construction of abilities that could constitute an existential threat to the state of Israel," he said in the video. "That's the message from '81, that's the message from 2007 and that's our future message to our enemies."
Two Six Labs to support SIGMA anti-nuclear terrorism program Washington (UPI) Mar 2, 2018 Two Six Labs LLC has been awarded a contract by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to support the SIGMA project, aimed at deterring nuclear terrorism. The deal, announced Thursday by the Department of Defense, is valued at more than $13.2 million under the terms of a cost-plus-fixed-fee contract. The SIGMA program, headed by Dr. Mark Wrobel at the Defense Sciences Office, aims to "revolutionize detection and deterrent capabilities for countering nuclear terrorism." To do so, t ... read more
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