dChan - Q Origins Project Archive

https:// www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/170392-180320-israel-officially-admits-striking-syrian-nuclear-reactor-in-2007

Only a few people on the staff were fully in on the secret, with many others only partially aware. They didn't know the target, they didn't understand why, and in every flight squadron you had only one pilot who was the contact person. The rest were only exposed to the target hours before the operation."

Beyond preparing for the strike itself, a whole range of other possible scenarios needed to be taken into account. "There was low probability of the attack leading to war" says Eizenkot "For me, even if it's a 15% or 20% chance, that's a lot."

The Israeli military had been through a war with Hezbollah only a year earlier. Norkin says that his major challenge was preparing the air force for a potential new war, instigated by the strike, with the vast majority of pilots, officers and crewmen not understanding why this was needed: "This was all happening under a cover story."

At Northern Command, Eizenkot says he also had to prepare his staff for a general scenario involving a war in the summer of 2007, with only Eizenkot himself and the command's top intelligence officer aware of the real reasons.

"The principle was surprise at the expense of readiness, so shortly before the strike, we didn’t do anything except open a command center. The commanders had to live with the understanding that this could develop quickly into escalation, exchanges of fire, all the way to war," Eizenkot explains.

"This operation, conducted at night, was a complicated mission to fly" says Norkin "This operation demanded courage and creativity by the teams, who were not used to this kind of flight, with planes that had only been received a few years before the strike."

8 F-16s took part in the mission, which was deemed successful. The Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad quickly cleaned up the site following the strike, doing its best not to draw attention to the target.

The attack did not lead to war, nor to any Syrian military retaliation against Israel.

Though the Israeli military has remained silent until now, other sources have confirmed the attack in the past. One of them, Benjamin Netanyahu, was head of the Israeli opposition at the time.

Several days after the operation, Netanyahu, breaking a protocol of official silence, said in a television interview on state broadcaster Channel 1, that he had been notified of the strike ahead of time and had congratulated then Prime Minister Ehud Olmert following its successful completion.

Further confirmation came from the US Secretary of State at the time, Condoleezza Rice, who was quoted in a diplomatic cable released by Wikileaks, dated April 25th, 2008:

"We discussed policy options with the Israelis, but in the end Israel made its own decision to destroy the reactor. This decision was made by Israel alone - they did not seek our consent. Nonetheless, we understand Israel's decision."

The cable, addressed to all U.S. diplomatic posts, also noted, "We believe - based on strong evidence - that North Korea assisted Syria with the reactor at al-Kibar."

Norkin says the decision to order the strike was "one of the most important taken here in the last 70 years."

"Today when we look at the Middle East, we understand how influential this operation was and how it changed the reality on the ground. Just imagine if there was a nuclear reactor in Syria today, what kind of situation we would be in."