After years of secrecy, the Israeli army confirmed on Wednesday it had conducted a 2007 military strike on what was believed to be Syrian nuclear reactor.
The Israeli army said that four F16 jets bombed a Syrian nuclear facility near Deir al-Zour, 450 kilometres north of Damascus, in a four-hour stealth operation on September 5-6, 2007.
The attack, dubbed “Outside the Box” by military command, was long believed to have occurred, but was never officially confirmed by Israel.
“The message from the attack on the nuclear reactor in 2007 is that the state of Israel will not allow the establishment of capabilities that threaten Israel’s existence,” said Israeli army chief of staff Gadi Eizenkot.
“This was our message in 2007, this remains our message today and will continue to be our message in the near and distant future,” he added.
It is unclear why the army chose to disclose the information now. Some speculate it could be a warning to Iran or be timed to coincide with the release of a memoir of Ehud Olmert, who served as prime minister during the strike.
Despite being widely reported in international media and even directly referred to in a memoir by former US President George W Bush, Israel maintained a veil of secrecy around the strike to prevent an escalation with Syria, said Amos Yadlin, who served as Israel’s chief of military intelligence during the strike.
“The most interesting concept was pushing [al-]Assad to the deniability space,” Yadlin told reporters, “If Israel will not take responsibility there is a chance that [Syrian President Bashar al-]Assad will deny that Israel even attacked.”
Syria confirmed that Israeli jets entered Syrian airspace during the time of the attack, but did not offer any details on the Israeli targets.
According to the Israeli army, the reactor was months away from being operational, prompting the army to strike and destroy the facility.
Documents released by the army indicate the they suspected North Korea, Pakistan, and possibly a third country of assisting to build the reactor.
Under cover of night, the jets took off at 10:30 pm, flying low to avoid detection and returning at 2:30 am.
