Report: Israel spots nuclear installations in Syria

[Logan13]

Report: Israel spots nuclear installations in Syria
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7...448829,00.html
Washington official says Israeli surveillance shows possible Syrian nuclear installation stocked by North Korea, Israeli Arab newspaper claims target of alleged raid last week was Syrian missile base financed by Iran

Israel believes that North Korea has been supplying Syria and Iran with nuclear materials, a Washington defense official told the New York Times. “The Israelis think North Korea is selling to Iran and Syria what little they have left,” he said.

The official added that recent Israeli reconnaissance flights over Syria revealed possible nuclear installations that Israeli officials estimate might have been supplied with material from North Korea.

Meanwhile on Wednesday the Nazareth-based Israeli Arab newspaper The Assennara cited anonymous Israeli sources as saying that Israeli jets "bombed a Syrian-Iranian missile base in northern Syria that was financed by Iran... It appears that the base was completely destroyed."

According to the Times, American officials confirmed Tuesday that Israeli jets launched an airstrike inside Syria. Sources said that Israel struck at least one target in northeastern Syria, but could not provide more details.

The most likely target was, according to some administration officials, weapon caches sent by Iran to Hizbullah through Syria.

North Korea commented on the incident Tuesday, calling it a "dangerous provocation", Chinese News Agency Xinhua reported on Tuesday.

"This is a very dangerous provocation little short of wantonly violating the sovereignty of Syria and seriously harassing the regional peace and security," a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

"The Democratic People's Republic of Korea strongly denounces the above-said intrusion and extends full support and solidarity to the Syrian people in their just cause to defend the national security and the regional peace."

[eliteforce]

Syria may have bought a black-market nuclear weapon from n.korea or iran; the israeli arab newspaper story is probably a publicity stunt , how would they of all people know that?

[DTBusta]

Its possible...They are on our "Axis Of Evil" , Whos to say they don't have an Axis of Evil of their own too!?

Here we go Iran and Syria..get ready to get bombed!

[Logan13]

Its possible...They are on our "Axis Of Evil" , Whos to say they don't have an Axis of Evil of their own too!?

Here we go Iran and Syria..get ready to get bombed!

Two of the biggest sponsors of terrorism in the world are working towards nuclear armament and yet you can only criticize the US. Seriously, are you like 19 YO?

[DTBusta]

shut up Logan ! WTF first of all your naive to believe what you read or are told by pill popping Rush or bullshit artist Sean Hannity...Iran by our own estimates are atleast 10 years away... If we listen to the same people that said saddam had wmd then don't find any...umm thats going down the rabbithole again...Lets wait for hard evidence...like being hit! lol j/k I don't know, just not believing the same people who messed up a few times...demo***** or republicasshole ! They have agendas on both sides, and we always suffer as a consequence...

[Kärnfysikern]

Syria may have bought a black-market nuclear weapon from n.korea or iran; the israeli arab newspaper story is probably a publicity stunt , how would they of all people know that?

North korea cant even build a bomb for themself properly so I doubt they have any on stock for sale...

[eliteforce]

This is BS, the official estimates are a load of sht..the propaganda is always designed to 'keep the military option open' and they know it kinda freaks people out to launch bombing raids on a nuclear weapons state, Iran and N.Korea have multiple weaponized warheards..Iran has the Fajr-3 missile which is multiple targeting nuclear missile, they wouldn't be procuring such a missile unless they had warheads for them..and they're working on icbm's-and could have an icbm already, at least a small one..

[Logan13]

shut up Logan ! WTF first of all your naive to believe what you read or are told by pill popping Rush or bullshit artist Sean Hannity...Iran by our own estimates are atleast 10 years away... If we listen to the same people that said saddam had wmd then don't find any...umm thats going down the rabbithole again...Lets wait for hard evidence...like being hit! lol j/k I don't know, just not believing the same people who messed up a few times...demo***** or republicasshole ! They have agendas on both sides, and we always suffer as a consequence...

It is all over the internet smartguy.

[Kärnfysikern]

This is BS, the official estimates are a load of sht..the propaganda is always designed to 'keep the military option open' and they know it kinda freaks people out to launch bombing raids on a nuclear weapons state, Iran and N.Korea have multiple weaponized warheards..Iran has the Fajr-3 missile which is multiple targeting nuclear missile, they wouldn't be procuring such a missile unless they had warheads for them..and they're working on icbm's-and could have an icbm already, at least a small one..

You cant be sure your bomb is any good unless you test it, Iran hasnt tested any bomb, N.Korea has only done one unsuccesfull test and it was probably something along the lines of the fatman or littleboy, far from anything that can be used in a MIRV.

There is no way to develop a nice, slim and reliable enough nuke fit for ICBMs without tests, it just isnt possible to be so sure of the design without tests. Theory and computer simulations are not enough. Not to mention secret tests are impossible. The technology to detect radiation is so advanced and there are far to many civilian radiation detection sites all over the world for any country to test nukes in secret.

Building a crude crap low yield nuke might be a piece of cake if you got highly enrichened uranium, but building a small and reliable plutonium nuke fit for a missile is far from easy.

[gixxerboy1]

I doubt most of it is true. But Israel has no right to bomb another country because of suspicions

[Logan13]

You cant be sure your bomb is any good unless you test it, Iran hasnt tested any bomb, N.Korea has only done one unsuccesfull test and it was probably something along the lines of the fatman or littleboy, far from anything that can be used in a MIRV.

There is no way to develop a nice, slim and reliable enough nuke fit for ICBMs without tests, it just isnt possible to be so sure of the design without tests. Theory and computer simulations are not enough. Not to mention secret tests are impossible. The technology to detect radiation is so advanced and there are far to many civilian radiation detection sites all over the world for any country to test nukes in secret.

Building a crude crap low yield nuke might be a piece of cake if you got highly enrichened uranium, but building a small and reliable plutonium nuke fit for a missile is far from easy.

The world is as concerned about suitcase-sized dirty bombs as they are nuclear missles. I'm sorry that you do not realize this.

[eliteforce]

You seem to believe everything you government/media tells you-and you accept it verbatim as fact.

First of all Pakistani Nuclear scietist Khan's people provided Iran and other countries with precise blueprints for nuclear bombs-this has been widly reported, it is not necessary to test those, just construct to specification.

The notion that the North Korean test was 'unsuccessful' is complete conjecture, the only evidence to support that is that some data has shown that the blast was not that big, but nuclear bombs can vary in size from a tactical weapon to a massive one, AND countries often use a lead tamper to half the size of the blast and radioactive emission when tested; that would have been preferable in a country as small as North Korea. And there is no evidence of what particular design they used. The device only needs to set off a chain reaction, the North Koreans did that.

What you said in the second paragraph is highly questionable by this point: The Israeli's havn't tested a bomb since the 1960's with South Africa-do you really think their nuclear weapons capability is unreliable? And if Iran tampered a weapon and drill it deep into the side of a mountain, deep inside their own territory-I think it's highly possible that such a test won't be detected-we're only talking satelites here..seems like you talk as if your a nuclear weapons AND environmental scientist-so matter of fact..

You cant be sure your bomb is any good unless you test it, Iran hasnt tested any bomb, N.Korea has only done one unsuccesfull test and it was probably something along the lines of the fatman or littleboy, far from anything that can be used in a MIRV.

There is no way to develop a nice, slim and reliable enough nuke fit for ICBMs without tests, it just isnt possible to be so sure of the design without tests. Theory and computer simulations are not enough. Not to mention secret tests are impossible. The technology to detect radiation is so advanced and there are far to many civilian radiation detection sites all over the world for any country to test nukes in secret.

Building a crude crap low yield nuke might be a piece of cake if you got highly enrichened uranium, but building a small and reliable plutonium nuke fit for a missile is far from easy.

[DTBusta]

Yay everybody cheer the new world order...yay yay the only patriotic americans are ones who want to topple governments and kill human beings !




Isreal has enougnh nuclear weapons to hold their own if attacked in a viscious bombing campaign...but not on hearsay...we have seen where thats gotten us numerous times !!!


BTW Bush's address last nite...I like how he uses the argument of his enemy the "liberals" who told him not to invade Iraq because we will be "stuck"....what a friggin way to turn around that argument in your favor...Shame on you Mr Bush you are the scum of the earth!....And yes so are Hillary and Bill..they are pothetic politicians too! I love how everybody like bush cause he isnt like one of the spineless democrats...which btw is totally true...why though cause he will invade countries!? Some spine to beable to order a fight and not partake in it personally!

[Kärnfysikern]

You seem to believe everything you government/media tells you-and you accept it verbatim as fact.

Nope I dont, I hardly trust anything the media say.

First of all Pakistani Nuclear scietist Khan's people provided Iran and other countries with precise blueprints for nuclear bombs-this has been widly reported, it is not necessary to test those, just construct to specification..

Would you completely trust those blueprints and base your entire deterent on it? Not likely. No one knows what or how much Khan shared, but even if he shared everything he know it still would not make sense to build alot of nukes without testing and it would not make sense to have alot of nukes and not tell the world. Nukes are useless as a weapon of war, they are built to be a deterant and for political power.

The notion that the North Korean test was 'unsuccessful' is complete conjecture, the only evidence to support that is that some data has shown that the blast was not that big, but nuclear bombs can vary in size from a tactical weapon to a massive one, AND countries often use a lead tamper to half the size of the blast and radioactive emission when tested; that would have been preferable in a country as small as North Korea. And there is no evidence of what particular design they used. The device only needs to set off a chain reaction, the North Koreans did that.

What sounds more probable, the first bomb N.korea ever test just happens to be a advanced low yield slim bomb with a yield around 0.5kiloton, something that require seriously advanced implosion technology and very advanced design, not to mention several design parameters needs experimental input.
Or
they built a crude nuke that fizzled?

Il go with the second option.

What you said in the second paragraph is highly questionable by this point: The Israeli's havn't tested a bomb since the 1960's with South Africa-do you really think their nuclear weapons capability is unreliable? And if Iran tampered a weapon and drill it deep into the side of a mountain, deep inside their own territory-I think it's highly possible that such a test won't be detected-we're only talking satelites here..seems like you talk as if your a nuclear weapons AND environmental scientist-so matter of fact..

Israel has some of the best scientists on this planet, Iran and N.Korea doesnt. That makes a big difference, second Israel had help from both France and Great Britain, Iran and N.Korea doesnt.

Its not satelites btw, seismic waves can travel quite far.

Im neither a nuclear weapons or environmental scientists. Im quite pleased beeing just a physicist.

[Kärnfysikern]

The world is as concerned about suitcase-sized dirty bombs as they are nuclear missles. I'm sorry that you do not realize this.

Well the world and people in general is concerned about alot of stupid shit. I dont fail to realise it, I just dont care.

Blowing up a truck full of chlorine in a city would kill more people than a dirty bomb. The only advantage to the dirty bomb is how scared people would be (because they dont know anything about radiation) and that it would be a expensive cleanup, but as a means to kill alot of people its utterly useless.

Not to mention a nuclear program is not needed to make a dirty bomb. Hospitals and industry use loads of radionuclides that can be used for that purpose. Hell break into a university lab and you find plenty of highly radioactive materials.

I doubt any terrorist will use a dirty bomb considering how much easier it is to posion or just blow up people. I was talking about this with a radiochemist at my university that is in charge of the hot lab, he could list 10-15 more lethal thing than a dirty bomb that a terrorist can easily do.

If your talking about a dirty suitcase nuke then Il worry the day you can show me a terrorist that can make a suitcase nuke that will acctualy blow up at all no matter how primitive.

[eliteforce]

Iranian scientists/engineers may not be as good as Israeli, but they are good enough to manufacture helicopters, tanks, fighter planes, smart bombs, intermediate range multiple targeting missiles, anti-ship missiles, etc. Your exagerating the technical issues involved in making a nuclear weapon, none of those pakistani tests failed, i doubt there was any nkorean failure-again how much can they really know from only a satelite photo taken at the time of the test. I'm sure the Iranians managed to master this technology just like every other country did before them, since the early 1940's-how difficult could it be if it dates back to the 1940's?

[Kärnfysikern]

The yield for the N.Korea nuke is esimated from seismic waves from the blast. Both South Korean and Russian experts estimate the yield at around half a kiloton from the seismic waves. I dont think you can find a expert anywhere that belives it was anything but a fizzle. Maby the design was flawed or maby the plutonium wasnt pure enough. Hopefully a combination.

Building a simple nuke anyone can do, I dont deny that. Give me uranium with 90% or more u-235 or u-233 and I could probably do it. Such a simple design needs no testing, the americans didnt even to bother testing a u-235 bomb before they dropped one on Hiroshima.

But building a nice and small nuke based on plutonium is something else alltogheter. It took the best minds the world has ever seen several years to construct the first plutonium bomb, the entire manhattan project was more or less dedicated to solving how to create a symetric implosion. Not only do you have to have a completey symetric implosion, it has to be a very fast implosion aswell. Any flaw in the implosion and you only get a fizzle yield, you also need very pure Pu-239 to be sure that the nuke is reliable.

A dedicated country can with time and enough resources build a nuke no doubt about it, sweden almost did it in secret until we decided we dont need nukes. But I am convinced that tests are needed to be sure the design is good and to improve on the design. Especialy if they want more advanced slim designs fit for MIRV's. A big primitive nuke like the Fatman or little boy is of no use realy.

The biggest obstacle is getting fissile material. Building the u-235 nuke might be easy, producing u-235 on the other hand isnt easy and Iran seems to be far from having the capability to produce enough u-235. Plutonium of high quality is quite easy to produce though, just build a small research reactor that can be hidden in some bunker. Since there is no need for pressure vessels, containment buildings, turbines, enrihcment facilities ect building one is easy, quick and cheap. But then you have the problem of acctualy producing a nuke from the Pu.

[Logan13]

If your talking about a dirty suitcase nuke then Il worry the day you can show me a terrorist that can make a suitcase nuke that will acctualy blow up at all no matter how primitive.

By that time it will be too late. I believe that your logic is backwards.

[Kärnfysikern]

By that time it will be too late. I believe that your logic is backwards.

Do you have any idea how complicated it is to build a small portable nuke of that size that can acctualy even produce any explosion at all?

Its like worrying that terrorist will build a F22 raptor out of spare parts and go after air force one with it.

If you want to worry about something realistic, worry about the tremendous ammount of incredibly lethal chemicals that are used everywhere and is easily aviable to anyone!

[Roidal]

That would be a big jump for Syria if this is true. I really doubt that Syria would ever have the capability of making their own nukes, especially when they know very well that Israel's army can get to Damascus within 24 hours.