Tel Aviv: The fact that Iran uses Syria to expand the capabilities of its defence industry has recently brought more intelligence sensors to watch its activities.
Recent intelligence proves that a Syrian “scientific” centre is being used by Iran to develop advanced weapon systems. CERS Centre, established in Syria in 1971, is the Scientific Studies and Research Centre (SSRC), or in its French name: the Centre D’Etudes et de Recherché Scientifiques (CERS). The centre is a Syrian government organisation whose declared goal is promoting, directing, and coordinating scientific activities in Syria.
According to a special report prepared by Tal Beeri and Teddy Sapir from the Alma Research and Education Centre (AREC) in Israel, the CERS Centre employs around 20,000 people. The majority of the centre’s personnel are Syrian researchers, engineers, and military officers of various specialties. The facilities of the centre are spread across Syria and comprise a variety of institutes, factories, industrial and storage sites.
“The CERS Centre serves as Syria’s national military industry. According to numerous studies and publications in the press, research institutes, and reports from intelligence agencies around the world over the years, the CERS Centre is accountable for the research, development, and military production of advanced weapons such as surface-to-surface missiles (such as the M-600 / Fateh-110 missile, which is at the heart of the joint Iranian-Syrian and Hezbollah precision project), and it is even possible that the CERS Centre is a partner in the “Labaik” project. In addition, the CERS Centre is responsible for developing and manufacturing chemical, biological, and potentially nuclear weapons.”
According to the special report, the CERS Centre produces unique but not necessarily advanced weapon systems such as barrel bombs and Al-Burkan rockets (barrel bombs mounted on a rocket). The CERS Centre is also defined as one that conducts economic, social, and industrial research and development. The centre is in charge of computerisation and technological equipment at Syrian universities and government departments, among other things.
The Alma research says that the CERS Centre is envisioned as a “growth engine” for the development and production of modern conventional weapons based on Iranian technology on Syrian soil.
“Furthermore, the CERS Centre operation shortens and saves the logistics of transferring weapons from Iran, which is more vulnerable to harm/disruption and obstruction,” the report mentions.
According to the report, the CERS Centre plays another critical function. The Centre has vast experience and understanding of chemical weapon development and production. “The Syrian leadership has fostered and developed extensive chemical capabilities to generate deterrence vis-à-vis Israel. The CERS Centre was given responsibility for this in the 1980s.”
The report reveals that the CERS Centre is responsible for developing chemical and biological weapons. “This capacity has never been deployed in an attack against Israel. However, it was used against the Syrian people multiple times during the civil war.”
The Syrian regime claimed to have (supposedly) submitted all of its chemical weapons to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) as part of the 2013 chemical weapons disarmament procedure, chemical weapons were nonetheless used during the civil war.
“We assess that the Syrian regime now possesses extensive chemical capabilities. The Syrian regime considers the stockpiles of chemical weapons in its possession and the threat they pose, as a guarantee of its survival,” the report points out.
-The writer is an Israel-based freelance journalist. The views expressed are of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of Raksha Anirveda
