Israel has acknowledged responsibility for the 2008 assassination of Muhammad Suleiman, a senior official in the government of then-Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, according to a report published by Middle East Eye on Thursday.
The report identifies Suleiman as a senior Assad official and says the admission concerns an operation carried out inside Syria. The killing took place in 2008, but the acknowledgment reported by the outlet emerged in connection with a new book.
According to the book, Suleiman was responsible for overseeing the construction of a nuclear reactor in Deir Ezzor, an area in eastern Syria. The source material provides no further information about the reactor, its construction, Suleiman’s specific government position or the circumstances surrounding his death.
Middle East Eye presented the disclosure as an Israeli admission that it had assassinated Suleiman. However, the material available does not identify the Israeli institution or official making the acknowledgment, nor does it state when or how the admission was issued. It also gives no title, author or publication details for the book cited in the report.
The account adds to the publicly reported information surrounding Suleiman’s role under Assad by linking him to the Deir Ezzor project. Beyond describing him as a senior official and saying he oversaw the reactor’s construction, the source does not provide further details about his duties within the Syrian administration.
The report was published on September 3, 2026, and attributed to Middle East Eye journalist Alex MacDonald. No additional statements from Israeli or Syrian authorities were included in the supplied material, and no information was provided about any official response to the reported admission.
Reporting attribution: based on reporting by Middle East Eye — original source: https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-admits-it-assassinated-senior-assad-official-syria-2008.