[ABC News] Martha Raddatz - Israeli officials believed that a target their forces bombed inside Syria last month was a nuclear facility because they had detailed photographs taken by a possible spy inside the complex, ABC News has learned. The Israelis first discovered a suspected Syrian nuclear facility early in the summer, and the Mossad - Israel's intelligence agency - managed to either co-opt one of the facility's workers or to insert a spy posing as an employee. As a result, the Israelis obtained many detailed pictures of the facility from the ground. When the Israelis came to the CIA with the pictures, the U.S. backed it up with very detailed satellite imagery of its own, and pinpointed "drop points" to determine what would be needed to target it. The Israelis urged the U.S. government to destroy the complex, but the U.S. hesitated because it couldn't be absolutely proved that it was a nuclear site since there was not yet any fissionable material. However, a senior U.S. official said, "It was unmistakable what it was going to be. There is no doubt in my mind."
2007-10-22 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive