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Illustrative photo of a nuclear reactor (file)
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| By Israel Insider staff October 17, 2007 |
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Syria's ambassador to the United Nations confirmed on Tuesday that Israel's air strike on September 6 in northern Syria did indeed target a nuclear site, marking the first time the country has acknowledged its nuclear efforts.
"Israel was the fourth largest exporter of weapons of mass destruction and a violator of other nations' airspace, and it had taken action against nuclear facilities, including the 6 July attack in Syria," Haaretz quoted Syrian envoy Bashar al-Jaafari as saying, in an apparent error as to the date of the September 6 air strike.
Until Tuesday, Syria had insisted that the IAF targeted an agricultural research facility and missed its objective, going so far as to invite foreign journalists to the site to substantiate its claims. Syrian President Bashar Assad claimed in a BBC interview that the strike hit a building in an abandoned military base, according to the Jerusalem Post.
The Israeli government continues to adhere to its vow of silence regarding the air strike, in what analysts speculate is an attempt to avoid embarrassing Syria and possibly igniting a full-scale war. Israel has been careful to prevent an escalation of tensions with Syria since the summer, when there was talk of a possible war erupting between the two countries.
However the Jewish state did lift censorship on the issue, now allowing journalists to quote local sources saying that the strike took place. However, any details beyond that the operation took place still must be attributed to foreign sources.
US policy makers are divided over whether to take Syria's nuclear efforts into consideration when determining its foreign policy toward Syria and North Korea, which reportedly aided Syria in developing its nascent nuclear facility.
It is yet unclear why Syria changed its policy of publicly denying the existence of its nuclear facilities.
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