Syria

Syria maintains a nuclear energy program it claims is only for peaceful purposes. It also maintains a ballistic missile program, which is believed to be in response to Israel’s conventional and nuclear capabilities.  In 2005, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEAI) Director General ElBaradei stated that IAEA inspectors could not find any evidence that Syria is developing nuclear weapons.  IAEA inspections carried out in June 2004 concluded that Syria was not involved in Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan’s network of illicit nuclear transfers. 

Syria’s ballistic missile program, which includes missiles capable of delivering chemical weapons, remains of serious international concern.  It is also widely believed that Syria has an advanced chemical weapons and biological weapons program. 

In 2004, the European Union (EU) and Syria finalized a trade agreement that requires Syria to work toward the nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction.