Syria agrees to dispose of secret nuclear site built with North Korean help as US, IAEA reach deal

The International Atomic Energy Agency is set to remove nuclear material hidden at a covert facility in Syria, Axios reported Monday.

The US government and the IAEA reached an agreement with the Syrian government about three weeks ago to dispose of the secret nuclear site known as Site 99, following behind-the-scenes negotiations.

The facility had been used by the regime of former President Bashar Assad to store remnants of the nuclear program associated with the Al-Kibar reactor.

The Al-Kibar reactor was built using a design similar to North Korea's 5-megawatt graphite-moderated reactor at Yongbyon. US intelligence agencies assessed that it was constructed with North Korean support as part of nuclear cooperation between Pyongyang and Damascus under the Assad regime.

The Arms Control Association noted in a 2024 report that "North Korea assisted Syria in constructing an undeclared reactor at Al-Kibar based on the Yongbyon reactor," adding that there were allegations North Korea attempted to sell graphite rods to Syria in 2012.

After the Al-Kibar reactor was destroyed in an Israeli airstrike in 2007, the Assad regime reportedly concealed the remaining radioactive materials and research and development equipment at Site 99.

Among the materials stored there is yellowcake, a uranium concentrate that serves as a basic raw material in nuclear weapons manufacturing.

Yellowcake cannot be used directly in a fission weapon, but it poses a risk of being used in a dirty bomb — a device that combines conventional explosives with radioactive material to contaminate a wide area.

The existence of the covert nuclear facility had been a source of regional tension, given concerns about the danger of the nuclear material and the possibility that Syria could pursue a further nuclear program.

The agreement to remove the nuclear material is expected to ease fears of a military confrontation between Syria and Israel, Axios said.

The Assad regime had been a member of the "Axis of Resistance," the Iran-led anti-Israel coalition in the Middle East, before it collapsed in late 2024 under a rebel offensive during the civil war.

Israel had been wary of the possibility that the new rebel-led Syrian government could gain access to the nuclear material, and was particularly concerned about potential involvement by Turkey, which competes with Israel for regional influence.

Fearing that hostile forces could seize the nuclear material amid the power vacuum in Syria, Israel bombed and sealed the entrance to Site 99 shortly after the Assad regime fell.

Israel subsequently warned it would strike the facility again if the new Syrian government or a third country such as Turkey showed any signs of attempting to access the nuclear material.

Donald Trump worked to restrain Israel from taking unilateral military action and pursued a diplomatic solution by engaging with Syria's new government and the IAEA.

Syria's new government, led by interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, has distanced itself from past ties to Islamic extremism and is pursuing a moderate, pragmatic foreign policy.

The transitional government cooperated with the United States in a manner entirely unlike the Assad regime, seeking to break out of international isolation and rebuild the national economy.

It signaled a willingness to swiftly address not only nuclear weapons but also the chemical weapons left behind by the Assad regime — another major threat — and accepted the involvement of the United States and international organizations.

Syria's new government was reportedly unaware of the Assad regime's concealment of nuclear material at Site 99 when the United States first raised the issue.

"Very few people within the US, Israel and Syria knew about this," a US official said.

The official added that Syria was "a good partner when it comes to working through issues" and said Washington was building a productive relationship with the new Syrian government.