Abstract

In the last four decades, Syria has often been considered one of the pet peeves of the West and Israel because of its support to terrorist groups acting in the Middle East and Europe. This stigmatization has been masking the suspicion that Damascus wants to acquire nuclear weapons. The conjecture started in the seventies when the Syrian civilian nuclear program has been launched, and grew after the Israeli attack on the Deir-ezzor site in 2007. The lack of transparency concerning the destroyed building and the special relation between Syria and Iran suggest the imminence of a new arm wrestling between Damascus and the nuclear powers. This time the international community cannot dither about this nuclear file as it has been doing with the North Korean and Iranian ones.

Keywords : Syria, Deir-ezzor, nuclear, Iran, suspicion, IAEA