Israel for the first time confirmed that it bombed a suspected Syrian nuclear reactor in 2007, saying on Wednesday that the strike removed a major threat to Israel and the region and was a “message” to others.
The first public acknowledgement by Israel that its F-16 warplanes carried out the Sept. 6 2007 bombing of the partially constructed Al-Kubar facility near Deir al-Zor was made after military censors lifted a more than 10-year order that had barred Israeli officials from discussing it.
The strike had already been extensively reported on abroad, and discussed by U.S. officials.
The Israeli military released newly declassified operational footage, photographs and intelligence documents about the bombing, showing the moment that the suspected reactor was hit, an detailing the intelligence operation that led up to it.
Israeli intelligence reports concluded that the reactor had been under construction with North Korean help and was months away from activation. Reuters has been unable to immediately verify the Israeli material.
Israel’s decision to go public comes after repeated calls in recent months by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the United States and international community to take tougher action on Syria’s ally, Iran.
“The motivation of our enemies has grown in recent years, but so too the might of the IDF (Israel Defence Forces),” Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Wednesday.
“Everyone in the Middle East would do well to internalize this equation,” he said.
The 5 a.m. Wednesday release of the declassified documents prompted a cascade of Israeli newspaper and television reports.
The Israeli military described in detail the events leading up to the night of Sept 5 to Sept 6, 2007, in which, it said, eight F-16 warplanes took off from the Ramon and Hatzerim air bases and flew to Deir al-Zor region, 450 km northwest of Damascus, Syria.
The operation was launched after it received intelligence indicating that “a substantial threat to Israel and the region, in the form of a nuclear reactor, was being built in Syria”.
