The International Atomic Energy Agency is preparing a new mission to Syria amid reports of an agreement to secure and remove nuclear material stored at a clandestine site linked to the nuclear programme of former President Bashar al-Assad’s government. According to information published on August 10, 2026, by Axios, citing US and Israeli officials, the administration of President Donald Trump helped broker understandings involving Syria, Israel and the IAEA concerning a facility known as “Site 99.” The objective is for nuclear material stored at the site to be secured and subsequently removed under the supervision of the international nuclear watchdog. The removal operation has not yet been completed. The exact quantity and characteristics of the material have not been publicly disclosed, meaning it should not automatically be described as weapons-grade or highly enriched uranium. According to the published information, Site 99 is associated with Syria’s former clandestine nuclear programme and has been monitored by Israel for more than two years.
The history of Syria’s disputed nuclear programme is closely connected to the Al-Kibar facility in the Deir ez-Zor region. On September 6, 2007, Israel destroyed the facility in an air strike, although it did not publicly acknowledge responsibility for the operation until 2018. In 2011, the IAEA concluded that the destroyed building was “very likely” a nuclear reactor that Syria should have declared to the agency. Damascus disputed that assessment for years. Following the political changes in Syria, cooperation with the IAEA expanded. In June 2025, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi visited Damascus and met President Ahmed al-Sharaa, while the new Syrian authorities agreed to provide greater access to locations associated with the country’s past nuclear activities. Subsequent analysis of environmental samples taken from one of three locations functionally related to the Deir ez-Zor site revealed a significant number of natural uranium particles of anthropogenic origin. Some were consistent with the conversion of uranium concentrate into uranium oxide. The findings gave the IAEA additional grounds to continue investigating activities conducted under the former government.
The agreement concerning Site 99 represents a separate but related development. According to US and Israeli officials cited in the reports, concerns had emerged that the material could become a source of renewed tension involving Israel, Syria and potentially Turkey. The US administration and the IAEA therefore worked toward a diplomatic solution that would allow the material to be secured without a military operation against the facility. On August 11, Syria’s Atomic Energy Commission said an IAEA delegation would visit the country and that significant progress on outstanding issues was expected to be announced. Publicly available information, however, does not support the conclusion that Syria’s current government is developing a new nuclear weapons programme. The current authorities have instead been cooperating with the IAEA in an effort to clarify unresolved questions concerning activities conducted under the previous government. The forthcoming IAEA work should help establish the nature, quantity and origin of the material and determine how it will be safely secured or removed. Until the agency publishes its own conclusions, reports concerning the precise nature and intended use of material at Site 99 should be clearly distinguished from established facts concerning Syria’s historical nuclear activities.
