L’objectiu secret de l’atac aeri israielià del passat 6 de setembre en territori sirià era un amagatall militar de material nuclear. Segons informacions del Sunday Times, soldats d’una unitat d’elit de l’exèrcti israelià, disfressats de soldats sirians, es van infiltrar en territori de Síria i van obtenir proves inequívoques que aquest país disposava de material nuclar nord-coreà. Amb aquestes proves, Tel Aviv va obtenir finalment la llum vera de Washington per procedir al bombardeig.
ISRAELI commandos from the elite Sayeret Matkal unit – almost certainly dressed in Syrian uniforms – made their way stealthily towards a secret military compound near Dayr az-Zawr in northern Syria. They were looking for proof that Syria and North Korea were collaborating on a nuclear programme.
Israel had been surveying the site for months, according to Washington and Israeli sources. President George W Bush was told during the summer that Israeli intelligence suggested North Korean personnel and nuclear-related material were at the Syrian site.
Israel was determined not to take any chances with its neighbour. Following the example set by its raid on an Iraqi nuclear reactor at Osirak 1981, it drew up plans to bomb the Syrian compound.
But Washington was not satisfied. It demanded clear evidence of nuclear-related activities before giving the operation its blessing. The task of the commandos was to provide it.
Today the site near Dayr az-Zawr lies in ruins after it was pounded by Israeli F15Is on September 6. Before the Israelis issued the order to strike, the commandos had secretly seized samples of nuclear material and taken them back into Israel for examination by scientists, the sources say. A laboratory confirmed that the unspecified material was North Korean in origin. America approved an attack.
