[Fedora]

"The Saudi Ambassador, Adel al-Jubeir, has long been courting members of Congress who could pressure the [Obama] Administration to get more involved in Syria. He found early support from Republican Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.": A Veteran Saudi Power Player Works To Build Support to Topple Assad (April 25, 2013)

[Ken H]

FUJM&LG

[piasa]

2013 : () In 2013, a report from the National Air and Space Intelligence Center stated, “Iran has an extensive missile development program, and has received support from entities in Russia, China, and North Korea.” ——— Satellite Pics Suggest Iran, North Korea Cooperating on Nuclear Research, The Tower, Dec. 29, 2016

Syria is Iran’s outsourcing partner on weapons development as is North Korea....which is why Iranians and Nork technicians were reportedly killed in an airstrike on a Syrian site in 2007.

[piasa]

In 2001, the Mossad, Israel’s external intelligence service, was profiling newly inducted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Visits by North Korean dignitaries, which focused on advanced arms deliveries, were noticed. Aman, Israel’s military intelligence department, suggested nuclear arms were being discussed, but the Mossad dismissed this theory. In spring 2004, U.S. intelligence reported multiple communications between Syria and North Korea, and traced the calls to a desert location called al-Kibar. Unit 8200, Israel’s signals intelligence and codebreaking unit, added the location to its watch list.[19]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Orchard

[piasa]

APRIL 2004 : (NORTH KOREA : EXPLOSION) On April 22, 2004, a massive explosion occurred on a North Korean freight train heading for the port of Namp’o. According to British intelligence writer Gordon Thomas, the Mossad had learned that dozens of Syrian nuclear technicians were in a compartment adjoining a sealed wagon. According to Thomas, the Syrians had arrived in North Korea to collect the fissionable material stored in the wagon. All of the technicians were killed in the train explosion. Their bodies were flown to Syria in lead-encased coffins aboard a Syrian military plane. A wide area around the explosion site was cordoned off for days as North Korean soldiers in anti-contamination suits collected wreckage and sprayed the area. Mossad analysts suspected they were trying to recover weapons-grade plutonium. Since the explosion, the Mossad tracked about a dozen trips by Syrian military officers and scientists to Pyongyang, where they met with high-ranking North Korean officials.[20]
-— https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Orchard