Officials said that high summer temperatures of up to 50 °C set off explosive materials at a military missile base, causing the ammunition dump to explode.
"[2] Jane's Defence Weekly published an article in September 2007 explaining purported inaccuracies in the Syrian account.
They also reported that the site was a secret weapons complex that contained an underground silo with a Scud D missile that Iran and North Korea had delivered to Syria.
Instead of high temperatures, the explosion was caused when fuel caught fire in a laboratory as Syrian and Iranian engineers attempted to load a mustard gas warhead onto a Scud-D missile.
[3] Fifteen Syrian nuclear technicians and "dozens" of Iranian engineers died in the explosion, according to Jane's report.