U.N INSPECTORS VISIT PREVIOUSLY UNDECLARED SYRIAN NUCLEAR SITES, INCLUDING LOCATIONS STORING URANIUM AND GRAPHITE. (PHOTO)

 U.N inspectors visit previously undeclared Syrian nuclear sites, including locations storing uranium and graphite

United Nations nuclear inspectors have visited several previously undeclared sites in Syria linked to the former Bashar Assad government’s nuclear activities, including locations where nuclear-related materials were stored.

The inspections were conducted by International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi and his team following diplomatic efforts involving the Trump administration, Syria and Israel. The visits marked the first time the IAEA received full access to several of the sites under suspicion.

The inspections focused on remnants of Syria’s secret nuclear program, which centered on the clandestine Al-Kibar reactor. Israel destroyed the reactor in a 2007 airstrike, largely dismantling Syria’s nuclear program, but several research, development, and storage facilities remained.

After Assad’s government fell, the IAEA reached an agreement with Syria’s new authorities allowing inspectors access to Al-Kibar and other locations connected to the country’s former nuclear activities. One site, known as Site 99, had received particular attention from Israel and the United States in recent years because of allegations that nuclear material associated with the Al-Kibar project had been stored there.

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani said his government notified the IAEA in a July 17 letter about the nuclear material and invited inspectors to examine the site.

Grossi said inspectors visited the former Al-Kibar reactor site in Deir Ez-Zor, where they observed excavation work being carried out in coordination with the agency. He also said his team visited an undeclared location outside Damascus where several tons of natural uranium metal had been stored.

Inspectors additionally visited another location containing large quantities of graphite, a material associated with the former Al-Kibar project.

The IAEA and the Syrian government agreed that the previously undeclared material will be verified and placed under the agency’s routine safeguards. Grossi said inspectors still need to complete a detailed inventory of the nuclear material.

If Syria and its partners decide to move the material, Grossi said the IAEA would participate in the process to ensure it remains properly accounted for and monitored.

Al-Shaibani said the material would be placed under IAEA safeguards while verification continues. He emphasized that Syria retains sovereign responsibility for nuclear material located within its territory and that the material remains under Syrian custody.

The Syrian government has not indicated that it intends to remove the nuclear material from the country.