Syria's 'Courageous Decision' Leads to Nuclear Discovery

Inspectors have turned up several tons of undeclared nuclear material in Syria, and the UN's atomic chief praised the country's "courageous decision" to report the site, reports the AFP. IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said Syria's new authorities voluntarily disclosed the Assad-era site in July, and "a few tons of nuclear material that could be put to bad use" have been found there. He said the material "will be accounted for, will be put within the international safeguards system."

Grossi noted he also visited Deir el-Zour in Syria's east, where the AP reports a nuclear reactor built by North Korea was once thought to be located. The site only became public knowledge after Israel launched airstrikes in 2007 that destroyed the facility. Syria later leveled the site and never responded fully to the IAEA's questions about it. "Myself and my team, we were inside the site of Deir el-Zour, where very comprehensive work of excavation and exploration is taking place now," Grossi said.