UN atomic watchdog says nuclear material found in Syria

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi disclosed on Tuesday that substantial quantities of nuclear material, potentially hazardous, were discovered at a clandestine site in Syria. The revelation occurred during a visit by Grossi and an IAEA team to the secretive location, where samples were gathered. The confirmation came during a joint press conference in Damascus alongside Syrian Foreign Minister Assad Al-Shibani, who affirmed Syria's entitlement to harness nuclear energy for civilian, peaceful objectives.

Al-Shibani emphasized that the nuclear material would remain under Syrian state control, adhering to IAEA oversight. He further stated that Damascus had previously notified the agency of the undeclared site's existence, voluntarily revealing it on July 17. The minister noted that Syria had invited the IAEA to inspect the site and confirmed that Grossi and his team had completed their visit and collected pertinent samples earlier that day.

This situation traces back to a clandestine nuclear program initiated by Syria's previous regime, centered around the covert Al-Kibar reactor. Israel's intelligence agencies have been tracking the site, codenamed 'Site 99,' for roughly two years, following the storage of nuclear material associated with the Al-Kibar project. A US official revealed that the material at the site encompassed yellowcake uranium, a powdered form of uranium ore that can be further processed and enriched within the nuclear fuel cycle.

The official added that the site also housed remnants of the Al-Kibar facility, stressing that though the material could not be utilized to construct a nuclear weapon, it could be employed in constructing a 'dirty bomb'—a conventional device designed to disseminate radioactive material and contaminate a region without causing a nuclear explosion.

Earlier this month, US and Israeli officials reported that the Trump administration had covertly agreed with Syria and Israel to facilitate the extraction of stored nuclear material from the secret Syrian site, overseen by the IAEA, according to Axios.