Last update - 00:00 29/10/2007
Syria backs IAEA's condemnation of Israeli raid on Syrian territory
By Reuters
Syria on Monday endorsed criticism by the United Nations nuclear watchdog of an Israeli raid on Syrian territory last month, and said the international community had been slow to condemn the attack.
Mohammed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said on Sunday that last month's Israeli bombing of an alleged nuclear site in Syria undermined the agency's global atomic work.
European diplomats in Damascus said Israel Air Force warplanes struck deep into Syria on September 6. They said the site may have been linked to missiles supplied by North Korea but played down reports of a nuclear link.
"There have been attempts to justify this raid, the last of which was that it targeted a nuclear facility. ElBaradei's condemnation of Israel shows the falsehood of these rumors," Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem said after a meeting with the Iranian foreign minister in Damascus.
"The raid constituted blatant aggression and the international community's tardiness in condemning it has been encouraging the aggressor," Moallem said.
The raid raised tensions between Syria and Israel, which have been escalating since the collapse of peace talks in 2000.
Israel gave no information on the target of the strike in question. Syria, a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty, said it had no illegal facilities. Syrian President Bashar Assad said earlier this month that Israel suffered what he described as an intelligence failure by raiding a minor military building under construction.
The institution for Science and International Security in Washington said Israel appeared to have bombed a facility resembling a North Korean nuclear reactor. It said Syrian crews razed the site after the raid.
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