A remote site in the Deir ez-Zor region of eastern Syria where Syria was allegedly constructing a covert nuclear reactor with North Korean assistance. On September 6, 2007, Israeli aircraft conducted a strike (Operation Orchard/Operation Outside the Box) that destroyed the facility before it became operational. Israel maintained official silence about the operation for over a decade, finally acknowledging it in 2018. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) later assessed that the destroyed building was “very likely” a nuclear reactor, and the strike is considered one of the most significant uses of preventive military force against a nuclear program since Israel’s 1981 attack on Iraq’s Osirak reactor. The incident highlighted concerns about nuclear proliferation in the Middle East and the extent of North Korean nuclear cooperation with other states.
