Syria has acknowledged for the first time that it possesses nuclear material, with the country’s foreign minister declaring that the material will remain under Syrian control while being placed under international supervision.
The Syrian foreign minister said Damascus would retain possession of the nuclear material under guarantees and oversight from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). He said Syria would provide appropriate conditions for its safe storage while maintaining the country’s right to pursue nuclear energy for civilian and peaceful purposes.
The announcement comes against the backdrop of a recent strike attributed to Israel at the Abu al-Duhur military airport in Syria’s Idlib province.
According to Syrian sources, the strike damaged the airport’s runway and several abandoned warehouses, with no casualties reported. The attack reportedly occurred one day after a Turkish military delegation visited the facility to examine plans to rehabilitate the airport and potentially transform it into a joint Syrian-Turkish military base.
Syria’s Foreign Ministry condemned the strike as “unjustified aggression and a blatant violation of Syria’s sovereignty.”
U.S. envoy to Syria Tom Barrack also criticized the attack, describing it as an “unnecessary escalation.” Barrack said the government of Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa had demonstrated a willingness to reduce tensions and urged the sides to prioritize dialogue.
Israel, however, has hinted that the circumstances surrounding the strike involved highly sensitive intelligence.
A senior Israeli official told Fox News that “highly sensitive intelligence was shared with the United States in advance.”
The official added that al-Sharaa could not be permitted to operate in the manner of Syria’s previous regime through proxy forces, while suggesting that the Syrian leader himself may not have been aware of the activity that prompted the Israeli action.
The disclosure that Syria continues to possess nuclear material is particularly significant given the country’s history of suspected nuclear activity. In 2007, Israel destroyed a secret facility at al-Kibar in eastern Syria that the IAEA later concluded was very likely an undeclared nuclear reactor.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
