Mick Hartley

This pretty much wraps it up. Yes it was a Syrian nuclear reactor that the Israelis bombed back in 2007:

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has released its May 24, 2011 report on the implementation of NPT safeguards in Syria.  The report outlines in detail the evidence it has collected of a suspected covert nuclear reactor building under construction in Syria which was bombed by Israeli jets in September 2007.  Syria has long denied that it was building a covert nuclear reactor.  Based on its analysis of the evidence, the IAEA “concludes that the destroyed building was very likely a nuclear reactor,” and that Syria should have declared it.

This safeguards report provides strong support for the IAEA Board of Governors to recommend a referral of Syria’s case to the United Nations Security Council.  Such a move would send a strong signal that the international community will not tolerate egregious acts of nuclear proliferation.  

Though a referral to the UN Security Council might not be one of Bashar al-Assad's main concerns right now.

The IAEA report is here.

There's little doubt as to the identity of Syria's supplier. Here's Stephen Haggard:

The report does not offer any firm conclusions with respect to the origins of technology and materiel. However, it does reiterate evidence from earlier satellite imagery from 2001 to 2007 to conclude that “the dimensions of the building are comparable to those for nuclear reactors of the type and power alleged, i.e. similar to the 25 MW gas cooled graphite moderated reactor at Yongbyon in the DPRK.”

What to do about it is not obvious to us given the other issues in play with respect to Syria… But the implications for understanding North Korea are a little bit more troubling than has been acknowledged. It is often assumed by prominent North Korea watchers that Pyongyang has a highly-calibrated understanding of red lines, and that proliferating a nuclear capability is different than acquiring your own or selling missiles. But behavior with respect to both Syria and Iran calls that assumption into serious doubt…