In 2007, Israeli airstrikes leveled a Syrian facility suspected of being close to producing nuclear material. After a decade of denials, Israel is now publishing declassified details of the strike.
Israeli intelligence suggested a remote building in Syria's Deir Ezzor region concealed a nuclear reactor that was months away from becoming operational. The reactor would have made Syria the first nuclear Arab state, something Israel viewed as a serious threat.
The strike has long been attributed to Israel. But details of the event were covered up in the Israeli media, ostensibly to keep Syria from being forced to acknowledge the attack and retaliate in kind.
Israeli officials are touting the attack as a warning to Iran, whose nuclear ambitions are also seen as a mortal danger in Israel.
But it also highlights how difficult it can be to track nuclear proliferation — Israeli and U.S. intelligence agencies didn't spot the reactor's real purpose until it was nearly functional.
