IAEA says Syria built a nuclear reactor in Deir Az Zor under al-Assad

What the report says

The International Atomic Energy Agency has concluded that Syria under former President Bashar al-Assad built a nuclear reactor in the eastern Deir Az Zor province and failed to fully disclose related nuclear material, facilities and activities, according to a confidential report reported by Al Jazeera and news agencies. The agency said it reached that assessment after inspection work at several Syrian sites in August and from earlier sampling, which found uranium particles at the Deir Az Zor location.

Al Jazeera reported that the IAEA said the cooling infrastructure uncovered at the site matches what would be expected for a reactor. The watchdog also said the former Syrian authorities did not report other related facilities, including a fuel fabrication plant and a storage location for fuel, uranium scrap and waste. The site was originally destroyed in Israeli air strikes in 2007 and later levelled, and Syria did not fully answer the IAEA’s questions in the years that followed.

The report comes after the fall of al-Assad in early December 2024, when Syria’s new authorities allowed IAEA access to suspected former nuclear sites. IAEA inspectors, including Director General Rafael Grossi, also visited a previously undeclared site. Al Jazeera said the agency verified natural uranium metal there, amounting to about 73 tonnes, and noted that the material is now under agency containment and surveillance. The new Syrian administration has indicated interest in a civilian nuclear energy programme under international safeguards.