Is this the definitive account of the Israeli strike on the nascent Syrian nuke site?

One of the most interesting stories to come out of the recent Israeli attacks on Gaza is that the IDF have been informing targets that they are targets. They have been calling or texting the occupants of buildings that are about to be flattened in the hopes that civilians will be get out. Note that this is necessary mostly because Hamas uses civilian building for military purposes. Israel is deliberately trying to avoid civilian causalities while Hamas purposely targets them.

It seems that the evidence is mounting that the target was indeed a nuclear facility.

An update from my favorite amateur IMINT analysis blog.

It seems that it was a nuke plant after all, according to some.

This story just doesn't die. It seems that almost everything is being linked to the mysterious air strike.
In a Defense Update article on the Russian navy in the Med, the author speculates that one of the reasons the Russian aircraft carrier is making a port call in Syria is to investigate the Israeli's EW usage during the operation. The Russian's are allegedly boosting their presence to increase their intelligence gathering in the region. Makes sense, seeing as the Russian navy has been in such a funk since the breakup of the Soviet Union. Although I doubt the Sixth Fleet is losing much sleep over a single small carrier that has no operational experience.

This story won't go away. Here are some more tidbits:

• Wired (and others) offer speculation that the target was a nuclear bomb factory and not a reactor. I don't know if this is a case of making the story match the facts rather that the other way around.


• Aviation Week has some more info on Israel's EW capabilities. Nothing shocking, since the IDF has always had the technological edge on its opponents. Of course the US will be eavesdropping; we do lots of SIGINT in the region.

Yet more updates on this growing story.

• War and Piece blog quotes Intelligence Online in saying that the attack targeting an arms depot rather than a nuclear facility. The depot was apparently receiving a shipment of parts for Scud missiles. I seriously doubt Israel would risk an operation like this on Scuds. Everyone has Scuds, why were this so special?


• Arms Control Wonk thinks they were Scuds as well.

Some more updated on the Israeli air strike:

• It seems that some satellite TV broadcasts have been disrupted, possible due to EW jamming.
  


• Some more on the alleged jamming of the Russian-made Syrian AA systems. I find the story of the SAM countermeasures to be almost as interesting as the strike itself. It seems as though the Israelis, and by extension the US, have an ace-up-the-sleeve when dealing with even the newest Russian systems. If there is an eventual strike on Iranian targets, we will likely have tons of intel on the capabilities of the SAM's and the means to overcome them. This undoubtedly enhances our position when negotiating with the Iranians.

David Fulghum speculates on the reason that the Israelis so easily penetrated Syrian air defense. He mentions a system call "Suter" that infiltrates enemy air defense systems and discombobulates them. Very interesting stuff. I can imagine the Russians getting some frantic phone calls from their SAM customers right about now.

The most under-reported story in the mainstream news has to be the mysterious Israeli airstrike on Syria. The target was an alleged nuclear joint venture between Syria and North Korea. The details of this story are right out of fiction:

• A North Korean cargo ship docks in a Syrian port to unload "cement." North Koreans scientists were reportedly at the target site.


• Then, reportedly, Israeli commandos infiltrated the lab to verify that nuclear weapons research was going on.


• The Syrians have a very dense air defense network, but no invading planes were shot down (at least know to us).


• The raiders apparently escaped via Turkey, leaving a fuel tank.


• What weapons were used? If the facility was indeed underground, perhaps new bunker-busting bombs were tested out?
  

The US certainly knew about the operation but there hasn't been an official acknowledgment by any government. Why keep it so secret? Is the Bush administration worried about Syria complaining? Perhaps they don't want to upset the apple cart that is the ongoing Nork negotiations.
If this story pans out, it would certainly bolster Bush's warnings about WMD's and would give the IDF some much-needed prestige. As for the Syrians, some of their military leaders have some explaining to do how all that money they spent on Russian SAM's wasn't worth the rubles it was printed on.
I find this story fascinating and can't wait for more information to come out.

Update
Here is more information on the commandos plus some speculation similar to my own on the silence from US and Israeli governments.
More analysis (albeit not very well unattributed) on the Syrian nuke program.