NPR

Syrian Rocket Scientist Reportedly Assassinated By Israel's Mossad

Aziz Asbar, who is said to have worked on Syrian rockets and chemical weapons, was killed over the weekend when his car exploded. The New York Times says he was targeted by Israel.
Wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre (SSRC) compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus, in a photo from April.

A top Syrian weapons engineer killed over the weekend when a bomb in his car exploded was the victim of a targeted assassination by Israel's spy agency, The New York Times reports.

Aziz Asbar, who the describes as "one of Syria's most important rocket scientists," and Israel's calls "a senior Syrian chemical weapons scientist" was killed Saturday night in the city of Masyaf in northwestern Syria along with his personal driver. Masyaf is reportedly the location of one of Syria's most important weapons-development facilities.

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