The partially built reactor apparently was modeled on one North Korea built to stockpile fuel for atomic weapons, U.S. and foreign intelligence officials told the Times.

The Sept. 6 attack was similar to a raid in 1981 when Israeli jets destroyed the Osirak atomic reactor in Iraq before it could begin operating. Bush administration officials have said that attack set back Iraq's nuclear plan by years.

What remains unclear is the role of North Korea in providing nuclear assistance to Syria and whether Syria could make the case the facility was intended to produce electricity rather than aid a weapons program, the Times reported.

Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, has said only that Israeli jets bombed an unused building “related to the military.”