MIDEAST: Analyst assumes U.S. report on Israeli attack in Syria will not change regional balance of power

Record ID: 279078

  • Title: MIDEAST: Analyst assumes U.S. report on Israeli attack in Syria will not change regional balance of power
  • Date: 25th April 2008
  • Summary: (BN08) GOLAN HEIGHTS (FILE) (REUTERS) MOUNT HERMON AS SEEN THROUGH SIGN READING 'THE KEYS TO THE GOLAN IN THE HANDS OF THE PEOPLE' ISRAELI HELICOPTER HOVERING IN SKY
  • Embargoed: 10th May 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA9FSV5BRKMJQ6EGIWAQA1EUJFM
  • Story Text: An Israeli analyst on Friday (April 25) said a U.S. report on the Israeli attack in Syria last September is significant due to the confirmation of the attack, though it did not reveal much new information.
    "The only important issue here is the confirmation: Till today it was not confirmed. Everybody knew about it, everybody reported about it in details. Yesterday we didn't hear any new details but what we got was for the first time an official confirmation that that's what actually happened, that Israeli aircrafts attacked Syrian nuclear facility which was installed and was built with the support and the help provided to Syria by North Korea, this is the important issue here," said Professor Eyal Zisser, Director of the Moshe Dayan Centre for Middle Eastern Studies at Tel Aviv University.
    On Thursday (April 24) the United States released photographs of what it said was a Syrian nuclear reactor built with North Korean help, in an effort to pressure Pyongyang to fully disclose its nuclear activities.
    Israel destroyed the reactor in a September 6 air strike that was initially shrouded in secrecy out of what U.S. officials said was fear that public discussion could prompt Syria, which has long supported militant Palestinian groups, to retaliate.
    The document said the administration had concluded that the suspected reactor would have been able to produce plutonium for nuclear bombs and was "nearing operational capability in August 2007" -- the month before the Israeli strike.
    The United States did not give Israel any "green light" to strike the suspected nuclear reactor, a U.S. official said.
    But Zisser says the attack in Syria was part of an Israeli strategic to prevent its neighbours from achieving nuclear capabilities.
    "This decision was very clear: Israel can not allow itself to allow any of its neighbouring countries, any of its enemies, potential enemies, to acquire nuclear capability. This might be a strategic threat to Israel. We saw it in Iraq in 81', we saw it in Syria in 2007 and now Olmert made it very clear only last week that Israel can not allow Iran to become nuclear so we'll have to wait and see," he said.
    The United States hopes airing its suspicions about Syria will garner more international support to isolate Iran, which Washington accuses of seeking to develop nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear program is designed to produce electricity.
    In the briefings to lawmakers and reporters, U.S. officials produced before-and-after aerial photographs of the suspected reactor in eastern Syria as well as detailed interior images that they said showed key parts of its components.
    Senior U.S. intelligence officials said the suspected reactor closely resembled the Yongbyon nuclear facility in North Korea, which tested a nuclear device in October 2006.
    Another official said Washington hopes the disclosures will persuade other nations "to join us in pressuring Syria to change its policies" toward Iraq, Lebanon and Palestinian groups that have launched attacks on Israel.
    But Zisser does not expect the destruction of Syria's nuclear facility to change the balance of power in the region.
    "So I guess the impact on this region of this American announcement will be very limited, very little, unless America will decide that it wants to take action against Syria," he said.
    It was not clear what effect the disclosures would have on North Korea, which was told about the presentations in advance. Nor was it clear whether they would ease concerns in Congress that the United States may have struck a bad bargain with North Korea.
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