Syria’s new regime grants IAEA access to Deir ez-Zor nuclear site bombed by Israel in 2007

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will be granted access to inspect sites suspected of being “related to nuclear weapons.”

The inspections will be conducted to bring “total clarity over certain activities that took place in the past that were, in the judgment of the agency, probably related to nuclear weapons,” IAEA Chief Rafael Grossi stated.

Grossi added, “Enriched uranium can be lying somewhere and could be reused, could be smuggled, could be trafficked.”

The Times of Israel reported that “Syria under Assad is believed to have operated an extensive clandestine nuclear program, which included an undeclared nuclear reactor built by North Korea in eastern Deir Ezzor province.”

The IAEA will inspect four sites, including that of Deir ez-Zor, which was bombed by Israel in 2007.

Grossi said the new Syrian regime, which toppled the Assad regime in December, is “committed to opening up to the world, to international cooperation,” and had a “very positive disposition to talk to us and to allow us to carry out the activities we need to.”

Grossi also mentioned that interim Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa is interested in developing nuclear energy.

Despite currently portraying himself on the international stage as a moderating force, al-Sharaa was the founder of the Al-Nusra Front, a jihadist group formed as the Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda, which carried out numerous massacres and sought to establish Sharia Law.