The Centre d'études et de recherches scientifiques (CERS),[3][4] (Arabic: مركز الدراسات والبحوث العلمية markaz aldirasat walbuhuth aleilmia) is a Syrian government agency that has the goal of advancing and coordinating scientific and military research activities in the country.

While it remained ostensibly civilian, Ziauddin Sardar's 1982 book Science and Technology in the Middle East said SSRC "belongs to the Syrian defense ministry, and conducts military research.

News media have reported production plants for sarin, VX and mustard gas near Damascus, Hama, Homs, Aleppo and Latakia.

[5] In June 1996 the CIA had discovered that SSRC received a shipment of missile components from China Precision Machinery Import-Export Corporation as part as a wider collaboration between the two institutions.

[12] In 2005, US President George W. Bush issued Executive Order 13382, blocking the ownership and support of weapons of mass destruction, which prohibited United States citizens and residents from doing business with the SSRC.

[7] In 2016, the head of Israeli Military Intelligence reported that Syria had resumed manufacture of the M-600 missiles, which has a range of 300 kilometers that was upgraded by CERS.

[16] In June 2020, it was reported that SSRC has been seeking to procure illicit nuclear, biological and chemical weapons of mass destruction technology in southern Germany.

[1][7][21] In 2014, it was revealed that CERS together with Hezbollah established a base in Qusayr, Homs with underground facilities that allegedly store Shahab-1 missiles, delivered to the organization by the IRGC, and natural uranium.

[12] In 2005, US president George W. Bush issued Executive Order 13382, "Blocking Property of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferators and their Supporters," which prohibited U.S. citizens and residents from doing business with SSRC.

[67] In September 2017 the Israel Defense Forces bombed a SSRC military research facility near Masyaf, probably targeting an advanced missiles factory.

[70] In August 2018, Dr. Aziz Azbar, the head of the SSRC Institute 4000 in Masyaf at that time, was assassinated in a car bombing, allegedly by Israel.

[72] An Israeli airstrike on January 12, 2019 damaged a suspected Iranian target in a Syrian military base 1.5 km west of the research center.

[77] On 8 September 2024, Israeli airstrikes killed 5, injured 19 civilians and made some material damage in the Masyaf area, according to Syrian state news agency SANA.

[78] According to the Syrian Ministry of Defense, Israeli Air Force warplanes launched missiles off the Lebanese Akkar Governorate to the south-east towards Tartus, Baniyas, Hama and CERS facilities in Masyaf.