Assad's Secret: Evidence Points to Syrian Push for Nuclear Weapons with Iran's help.

Assad's Secret: Evidence Points to Syrian Push for Nuclear Weapons with Iran's help.(Spiegel)

For years, it was thought that Israel had destroyed Syria's nuclear weapons capability with its 2007 raid on the Kibar complex. Not so. New intelligence suggests that Bashar al-Assad is still trying to built the bomb. And he may be getting help from North Korea and Iran.

Secret information obtained by SPIEGEL indicates that the world is once again being misled by Assad. Syria's dictator has not given up his dream of an atomic weapon and has apparently built a new nuclear facility at a secret location. It is an extremely unsettling piece of news.

Suspicious Uranium Particles.

According to findings of Western intelligence agencies, however, the situation is much more explosive than previously assumed. Based on documents that SPIEGEL has in its possession, the agencies are convinced that Assad is continuing in his efforts to build the bomb.

Analysts say that the Syrian atomic weapon program has continued in a secret, underground location. According to information they have obtained, approximately 8,000 fuel rods are stored there. Furthermore, a new reactor or an enrichment facility has very likely been built at the site -- a development of incalculable geopolitical consequences.

Some of the uranium was apparently hidden for an extended period at Marj as-Sultan near Damascus, a site that the IAEA likewise views with suspicion. Satellite images from December 2012 and February 2013 show suspicious activity at Marj as-Sultan. The facility, located not far from a Syrian army base, had become the focal point of heavy fighting with rebels. Government troops had to quickly move everything of value. They did so, as intelligence officials have been able to reconstruct, with the help of Hezbollah, the radical Shiite "Party of God" based in Lebanon. The well-armed militia, which is largely financed by Iran, is fighting alongside Assad's troops.

Intercepted Conversations

Intelligence agency findings indicate that the material was moved to a well-hidden underground location just west of the city of Qusayr, not even two kilometers from the border with Lebanon. They managed the move just in time. Marj as-Sultan ultimately did fall to the rebels, but has since been retaken by government troops.

Work performed at the site by members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard is also mentioned in the intercepted conversations. The Revolutionary Guard is a paramilitary organization under the direct control of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. It controls a large part of the Iranian economy and also plays a significant role in Iran's own nuclear activities. Not all of its missions abroad are cleared with the government of moderate President Hassan Rohani. The Revolutionary Guard is a state within a state.

Experts are also convinced that North Korea is involved in Zamzam as well. Already during the construction of the Kibar facility, Ibrahim Othman worked closely together with Chou Ji Bu, an engineer who built the nuclear reactor Yongbyon in North Korea. Read the full story here.

Seems a little far from a decent water source to be an underground reactor. Enrichment is possible. pic.twitter.com/vxwRZIU9nr
— Jeffrey Lewis (@ArmsControlWonk) January 9, 2015

Construction dates to sometime between June 2008-September 2009. pic.twitter.com/xK9nlyYlP9
— Jeffrey Lewis (@ArmsControlWonk) January 9, 2015

It's certainly a military UGF. pic.twitter.com/MpcjOFDT1v
— Jeffrey Lewis (@ArmsControlWonk) January 9, 2015

@moscow_ghost For fun, I have mapped this very base before: http://t.co/XbNEtKSzSI @DR_SHAHID @MFS001 @green_lemonnn pic.twitter.com/hnDX5qe2xm

— Chris Kabusk (@ckabusk) January 6, 2015