{"id":29918576,"date":"2026-10-28T11:46:24","date_gmt":"2026-10-28T10:46:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/operation-orchard-2007-israel-strike-al-kibar-syria-reactor\/"},"modified":"2026-10-28T11:46:45","modified_gmt":"2026-10-28T10:46:45","slug":"operation-orchard-2007-israel-strike-al-kibar-syria-reactor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/operation-orchard-2007-israel-strike-al-kibar-syria-reactor\/","title":{"rendered":"Operation Orchard: Israel&#8217;s Secret 2007 Strike on Syria&#8217;s Reactor"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.et_pb_title_container h1.entry-title { padding-top: 40px !important; }<\/style>\n<!-- mfsh:top -->\r\n\r\n<style>\r\n.mfsh-trigger{display:inline-flex;align-items:center;gap:10px;height:44px;padding:0 18px;margin:0 0 26px;border:2px solid 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It meant that a building in the desert of eastern Syria, a building the Israelis called \"the Cube\", no longer existed. Inside it, according to Israeli and American intelligence, Syria had been quietly building a nuclear reactor with North Korean help.<\/p>\n\n<p>Israel said nothing. Syria said almost nothing. For more than ten years one of the most consequential air strikes of the century officially did not happen, until the <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/air-forces\/israeli-air-force\/\">Israeli Air Force<\/a> finally released the files, the photographs and the cockpit video in March 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n<div style=\"background:#f4f6f9;border:1px solid #e2e7ee;padding:18px 22px;margin:22px 0 26px\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:700;color:#0d1117\">Quick Facts<\/p><ul style=\"margin:0;padding-left:18px\"><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Date:<\/strong> Night of 5-6 September 2007<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Target:<\/strong> Al-Kibar reactor, Deir ez-Zor region, Syria<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Official Israeli name:<\/strong> Outside the Box (\"Operation Orchard\" in the press)<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Aircraft:<\/strong> Eight jets: F-15I Ra'am of 69 Squadron, F-16I Sufa of 119 and 253 Squadrons<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Ordnance:<\/strong> About 17 tons of precision-guided bombs<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Reactor design:<\/strong> Gas-cooled, graphite-moderated, modelled on North Korea's Yongbyon<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Success codeword:<\/strong> \"Arizona\"<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Officially acknowledged:<\/strong> 21 March 2018<\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The Cube on the Euphrates<\/h2>\n\n<p>The building stood at al-Kibar, in the Deir ez-Zor region, roughly 450 km northeast of Damascus. US intelligence later briefed Congress that it housed a gas-cooled, graphite-moderated reactor modelled on North Korea's Yongbyon plant, a design suited to producing plutonium. According to reports citing Der Spiegel, Israeli intelligence obtained photographs of the interior from a Syrian official's laptop, including one that reportedly showed a senior North Korean nuclear official with the head of Syria's atomic energy commission.<\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/10\/al-kibar-reactor-cia-computer-model.png\" alt=\"CIA computer model of the al-Kibar reactor\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">A CIA computer model of the al-Kibar reactor, released to Congress in April 2008, showing the reactor hall and its cooling arrangement. US government image<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<p>Prime Minister Ehud Olmert first asked Washington to destroy the site. President George W. Bush preferred diplomacy, and wrote later in his memoir <em>Decision Points<\/em> that Olmert told him the US strategy was \"very disturbing to me\". Israel decided to act alone.<\/p>\n\n\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><div><em>&ldquo;Prime Minister Olmert hadn't asked for a green light, and I hadn't given one.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>George W. Bush<\/strong> &mdash; 43rd President of the United States, in his memoir Decision Points (2010)<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Eight jets and four hours<\/h2>\n\n<p>According to the details Israel released in 2018, the strike force took off at about 22:30 on 5 September: <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/f-15e-strike-eagle\/\">F-15I Ra'am<\/a> jets of 69 Squadron, \"The Hammers\", and <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/f-16-fighting-falcon\/\">F-16I Sufa<\/a> jets of 119 and 253 Squadrons, eight aircraft in all. Early wire reports gave different mixes, but four of each type is the most widely reported breakdown. Both types are two-seaters, a pilot and a weapons systems officer.<\/p>\n\n<p>They dropped about 17 tons of precision-guided munitions, a figure first published by David Makovsky in The New Yorker in 2012. The War Zone describes a mix of laser-guided and GPS-guided weapons including penetrators. Shortly before 1 a.m. the crews sent \"Arizona\", and roughly four hours after takeoff, according to AP, they were home. Jettisoned drop tanks later turned up in Turkey, suggesting part of the route ran along or through Turkish airspace.<\/p>\n\n\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #1565c0;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/10\/amikam-norkin-iaf-commander.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"flex-shrink:0\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/10\/amikam-norkin-iaf-commander.jpg\" alt=\"Maj. Gen. Amikam Norkin\" style=\"width:96px;height:96px;border-radius:50%;object-fit:cover;object-position:top;display:block;border:2px solid #ddd\"><\/a><div><em>&ldquo;Imagine what situation we would be in today if there was a nuclear reactor in Syria.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Maj. Gen. Amikam Norkin<\/strong> &mdash; Commander of the Israeli Air Force, March 2018<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/10\/al-kibar-syrian-reactor-before-after-2007.jpg\" alt=\"Al-Kibar building before and after the 2007 strike\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">The al-Kibar building before (left) and after the strike, from imagery released by the US government in April 2008. US government image<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">How did they get through?<\/h2>\n\n<p>That question has never been answered officially. Aviation Week reported in November 2007 that a radar site at Tall al-Abuad was first hit with electronic attack and then with precision weapons. Analysts have suggested a network-intrusion capability similar to the American \"Suter\" system, and IEEE Spectrum reported, citing unnamed European sources, that a \"kill switch\" had been hidden in Syrian radar electronics. Israel has never confirmed any of these accounts.<\/p>\n\n<p>What Israel did confirm was the intent behind the secrecy. The air force chief at the time, Eliezer Shkedi, ordered that the operation should not be connected to Israel, at least not at first, to lower the risk of a war. Syria denied the site was nuclear; President Bashar al-Assad called it an incomplete and empty military complex. The International Atomic Energy Agency concluded in 2011 that the building was \"very likely\" a reactor that Syria should have declared.<\/p>\n\n\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0 6px\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/dd67Ki5y68I\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div><p style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin:0 0 24px;font-style:italic\">The IDF's own 2018 film, in which then Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot discusses the attack.<\/p>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The decade of silence<\/h2>\n\n<p>On 21 March 2018, ten and a half years later, the IDF released declassified documents, photographs and strike footage. The message was aimed as much at Iran as at Syria.<\/p>\n\n\n<div style=\"max-width:550px;margin:0 auto 28px\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?id=976462032663965697&theme=light\" style=\"width:100%;height:520px;border:none;overflow:hidden\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #1565c0;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/10\/gadi-eisenkot-portrait.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"flex-shrink:0\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/10\/gadi-eisenkot-portrait.jpg\" alt=\"Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot\" style=\"width:96px;height:96px;border-radius:50%;object-fit:cover;object-position:top;display:block;border:2px solid #ddd\"><\/a><div><em>&ldquo;This was the message in 1981, this is the message in 2007.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot<\/strong> &mdash; IDF Chief of the General Staff, March 2018<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<p>The reference was to <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/operation-opera-osirak-reactor-raid-1981\/\">Operation Opera<\/a>, the 1981 strike on Iraq's Osirak reactor. Al-Kibar was its sequel, quieter and in some ways more remarkable: a reactor destroyed before it ran, a war that never started and a raid that its own country kept secret for more than a decade.<\/p>\n\n\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0 6px\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/L-vhiHbKm4I\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div><p style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin:0 0 24px;font-style:italic\">Al Jazeera English on the footage Israel released in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n<p><em>Sources: Times of Israel, The War Zone, AP via PBS NewsHour, NPR, Al Jazeera, Jerusalem Post, CCDCOE Cyber Law Toolkit, Wikipedia<\/em><\/p>\n<!-- mfsh:bottom -->\r\n\r\n<button type=\"button\" class=\"mfsh-trigger mfsh-bottom\" data-mfsh-placement=\"bottom\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"><svg><use href=\"#mfsh-i-share\"\/><\/svg>Share this story<\/button>\r\n\r\n<!-- \/mfsh:bottom -->\n\n\n<style>.mfq{margin:34px 0 8px}.mfq h2{font:26px\/1.3 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117;padding-top:22px;margin:0 0 6px}.mfq .qa details{border-top:1px solid #5C91FF;margin:0;padding:0}.mfq .qa details:last-of-type{border-bottom:1px solid #e2e7ee}.mfq .qa summary{cursor:pointer;list-style:none;display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center;gap:16px;padding:22px 26px;font:18px\/1.7 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117}.mfq .qa summary::-webkit-details-marker{display:none}.mfq .qa summary::after{content:\"+\";font:24px Helvetica,sans-serif;color:#3568e0;flex:0 0 auto}.mfq .qa details[open] summary::after{content:\"\\2013\"}.mfq .qa details:hover summary{color:#3568e0}.mfq .qa .a{font:16px\/1.7 \"Gilroy regular\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#454e5e;padding:0 26px 24px}.mfq .qa .a a{color:#3568e0}@media(max-width:680px){.mfq .qa summary{padding:18px 14px;font-size:17px}.mfq .qa .a{padding:0 14px 20px}}<\/style>\n\n\n<section class=\"mfq\"><h2>Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2><div class=\"qa\"><details open><summary>What was Operation Orchard?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Operation Orchard, officially named Outside the Box in Israel, was the Israeli Air Force strike on a covert Syrian nuclear reactor at al-Kibar in the Deir ez-Zor region. It took place in the night of 5-6 September 2007, when about 17 tons of precision-guided bombs destroyed the reactor building before it could begin operating.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Which aircraft did Israel use in Operation Orchard?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Israel used eight fighter jets in Operation Orchard, according to details released in 2018: F-15I Ra'am jets of 69 Squadron and F-16I Sufa jets of 119 and 253 Squadrons. Early wire reports gave different mixes, but four F-15Is and four F-16Is is the most widely reported breakdown.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>How did Israeli jets get past Syria's air defences in 2007?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Israel has never officially explained how its jets got past Syrian air defences in 2007. Aviation Week reported electronic attack and a precision strike on a radar site at Tall al-Abuad. Analysts have also suggested a Suter-like network attack, and IEEE Spectrum reported an unverified radar kill switch. None of these accounts has been confirmed.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>What was North Korea's role in the al-Kibar reactor?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">North Korea helped Syria build the al-Kibar reactor, according to US intelligence and Israeli findings. The reactor was a gas-cooled, graphite-moderated design modelled on North Korea's Yongbyon plutonium-production reactor. Israeli intelligence reportedly obtained photographs linking a senior North Korean nuclear official to Syria's atomic energy chief.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Did George W. Bush approve the Israeli strike on Syria's reactor?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">George W. Bush did not approve the strike in advance, by his own account. Ehud Olmert had asked the United States to bomb the site, but Bush preferred diplomacy. In his memoir Decision Points, Bush wrote that Olmert had not asked for a green light and that he had not given one. Israel then acted alone.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>When did Israel officially admit the al-Kibar strike?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Israel officially admitted the al-Kibar strike on 21 March 2018, ten and a half years after the raid, when the IDF released declassified documents, photographs and cockpit footage. The International Atomic Energy Agency had concluded in 2011 that the destroyed building was very likely a nuclear reactor that Syria should have declared.<\/div><\/details><\/div><\/section>\n\n\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"FAQPage\",\"mainEntity\":[{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"What was Operation Orchard?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Operation Orchard, officially named Outside the Box in Israel, was the Israeli Air Force strike on a covert Syrian nuclear reactor at al-Kibar in the Deir ez-Zor region. 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The International Atomic Energy Agency had concluded in 2011 that the destroyed building was very likely a nuclear reactor that Syria should have declared.\"}}]}<\/script><div style=\"background:#f0f4ff;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:16px 20px;margin:32px 0 8px\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:600;color:#333\">Related Posts<\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/operation-tagar-dugman-5-1973-israeli-air-force-sam-golan-suez\/\">Operation Tagar and Dugman 5: Israel\u2019s Worst Day Against the SAMs<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/ilan-ramon-osirak-pilot-columbia-astronaut\/\">The Osirak Pilot Who Carried the Holocaust Into Space<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/operation-opera-osirak-reactor-raid-1981\/\">Eight Jets That Erased a Nuclear Reactor<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/mole-cricket-19-bekaa-valley-israel-syria-1982\/\">Mole Cricket 19: 82 MiGs in Three Days<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Share this story A little before one o&#8217;clock in the morning on 6 September 2007, a single word came over the radio in an Israeli Air Force command post: &#8220;Arizona&#8221;. It meant that a building in the desert of eastern Syria, a building the Israelis called &#8220;the Cube&#8221;, no longer existed. Inside it, according to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":29918311,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[666,664],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29918576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history-and-legends","category-military-aviation"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Operation Orchard: Israel&#039;s 2007 Strike on Syria&#039;s Reactor<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In September 2007, eight Israeli F-15Is and F-16Is destroyed Syria&#039;s secret North Korean-designed reactor at al-Kibar. 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