DAMASCUS – Israel’s military admitted for the first time Wednesday it wasresponsible for a 2007 air raid against a suspected Syrian nuclear reactor,a strike it was long believed to have carried out.

The admission along with the release of newly declassified material relatedto the raid comes as Israel intensifies its warnings over the presence ofits main enemy Iran in neighbouring Syria.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also repeatedly called forthe nuclear deal between world powers and Iran to be changed or eliminated.

US President Donald Trump, who met Netanyahu at the White House this month,has said that the nuclear deal must be “fixed” by May 12 or the UnitedStates will walk away.

An Israeli military spokesman declined to respond to questions related tothe admission and the release of the documents, including over the timing,which could be seen as a warning regarding Iran’s activities.

The declassified material includes footage of the strike, video of a speechby military chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot on the operation and pictures ofsecret army intelligence communiques about the site.

A military statement summarising the operation lays out the case for whyIsrael carried out the strike at the desert site in the Deir Ezzor regionof eastern Syria on what it says was a nuclear reactor under construction.- APP /AFP