Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert wrote in his new book that Israel was behind the 2008 killing of Muhammad Sulayman, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s adviser on nuclear affairs.
Sulayman, who was among Assad’s chief advisers and oversaw Syria’s armament activities, was killed on August 1, 2008, while having dinner on the balcony of his sea-facing villa in the coastal city of Tartus.
The operation in Tartus
According to Olmert’s account in the book, an Israeli team approached Sulayman’s home by sea. Taking advantage of the darkness, the team moved to within about 150 meters of the villa’s balcony and confirmed that the target was Sulayman.
Olmert wrote that, after the order was given, three shots were fired at Sulayman and the bullets struck the back of his head. The team then returned to the shore and boarded the boat that had transported it.
Sulayman’s role in Syria
Muhammad Sulayman was described as Assad’s chief adviser on nuclear affairs and military intelligence. He was responsible for the construction and security of the nuclear facility in Deir ez-Zor and, in Olmert’s words, played a role in “everything” related to the facility.
Olmert also wrote that about a month before the attack on the facility in Deir ez-Zor, Assad gave Sulayman a new Mercedes in recognition of his contributions.
Information in leaked documents
Israel did not publicly acknowledge its responsibility for Sulayman’s killing for a long time. Documents belonging to the U.S. National Security Agency that were leaked in 2015 alleged that the operation had been carried out by Shayetet 13, a special forces unit of the Israeli Navy.
Olmert wrote in his book that the information in the leaked documents was accurate. The book’s title alludes to the internal code name used by the Israeli military for its 2007 attack on Syria’s nuclear reactor in Deir ez-Zor.
Israel did not announce its responsibility for the attack on the Deir ez-Zor reactor in 2007; an official acknowledgment of the operation was made in 2018.
IAEA inspections in Syria
The International Atomic Energy Agency also recently announced that the Bashar al-Assad government had sought to build a nuclear reactor in Deir ez-Zor. Agency inspectors conducted verification work last August at two nuclear sites in different parts of Syria, including a facility in Deir ez-Zor.
This was the agency’s first inspection of the area since its visit in 2008.
Statement on Imad Mughniyeh
In 2024, Olmert also acknowledged for the first time that Israel was responsible for the killing of Hezbollah’s head of global operations, Imad Mughniyeh, in Damascus in February 2008.
