Israel admits 2007 Syrian ‘nuclear reactor’ strike

JERUSALEM: Israel admitted for the first time Wednesday it was responsible for a top-secret 2007 air raid against a suspected Syrian nuclear reactor, a strike the intelligence minister says serves as a warning to Iran.

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. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also repeatedly called for a landmark 2015 nuclear deal between world powers and Iran to be changed or eliminated. Netanyahu said 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.”

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, Israeli 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.”