Israel destroyed a secret Syrian nuclear reactor in September 2007, according to a US diplomatic cable cited Friday in the Israeli Yediot Ahronoth daily.
The cable, which the Israeli paper said it had obtained ahead of its publication by WikiLeaks, was written on April 25, 2008, by then Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and stated that “on September 6 2007, Israel destroyed the nuclear reactor built by Syria secretly, apparently with North Korea's help.”
Yediot said the cable provided the first official confirmation of the attack.
Syria has always denied that the structure allegedly targeted by Israel was a nuclear reactor and Israel has never officially admitted that it carried out the raid.
“The Israeli mission was successful - the reactor was destroyed without an option of rehabilitation. Syria completed the site's evacuation, got rid of the evidence of what existed in the area and set up a new building on the site,” Rice wrote to US diplomats.
“We believe, based on solid evidence, that North Korea helped Syria build the reactor - and we have decided that it's time to share more information on this matter with you,” the cable went on to say.
According to Rice, intelligence information handed over by Israel, and also collected “through our sources and methods,” led to the conclusion that “the reactor was not built for peaceful purposes.” -
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