In his new book, former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert reveals for the first time that Israeli naval commandos (Shayetet 13) assassinated Brigadier General Muhammad Suleiman near Tartus on August 1, 2008. Suleiman, a close adviser to then-President Bashar al-Assad, was reportedly involved in the Syrian nuclear program and arms transfers to Hezbollah. The confirmation ends years of official Israeli ambiguity over the operation.
In a development that closes a chapter of long‑standing operational secrecy, former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert confirmed in his newly published memoir that Israel was directly responsible for the targeted killing of Syrian Brigadier General Muhammad Suleiman on August 1, 2008. According to Olmert’s account, operators from the Israeli Navy’s Shayetet 13 unit reached the coast near Tartus in a clandestine boat landing, approached Suleiman’s villa, verified his identity, and eliminated him with three sniper rounds before withdrawing undetected.
Suleiman served as a senior military and intelligence adviser to President Bashar al‑Assad, overseeing the Syrian nuclear program and the transfer of advanced weapons to Hezbollah, according to Israeli and foreign media reports at the time. The operation took place roughly a year after Israel’s 2007 strike on the Syrian nuclear reactor at Deir ez‑Zor, a facility with which Suleiman was reportedly involved.
For years, Israeli officials refrained from confirming or denying the operation, even after leaked NSA documents in 2015 linked Israel to the killing. Olmert’s admission now constitutes the most senior public acknowledgment from an Israeli leader. The revelation comes as Syria has undergone a regime change and is engaging with Israel through U.S.-mediated talks, though the current leadership under Ahmad al‑Sharaa has no connection to the Assad-era assassination.
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