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Last update - 20:51 09/08/2008

Diplomats: Syria blocks new visit by nuclear watchdog

By News Agencies

Tags: israel, Nuclear program

Syria has blocked International Atomic Energy Agency experts from conducting a follow up visit to the country aimed at investigating intelligence that Damascus has built a secret nuclear facility with the aid of North Korea, diplomats told The Associated Press on Saturday.

Syria said that United Nations nuclear inspectors would not be permitted to conduct a second inspection of a site which Israel Air Force jets bombed last year because the agreement between Damascus and the UN stipulated only one inspection, which was conducted in June.

A Foreign Ministry official said Syria has told the International Atomic Energy Agency that it is ready to answer any questions.

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The U.S. alleges that the remote site was a near-finished plutonium-producing reactor built with North Korean help and that Damascus is hiding linked facilities.

The Syrian official denied these allegations, speaking Saturday on condition of anonymity because the official was not allowed to speak to media.

The diplomats also said Washington was circulating a note among members of the IAEA board opposing a Syrian push for a seat on the 35-nation panel. The board normally works by consensus and a seat held by Damascus could thus hamper any investigation into its alleged nuclear activities.

Syria fears a massive atomic agency investigation similar to the probe Iran has been subjected to for more than five years.

"Syria's election to the board while under investigation for secretly ... building an undeclared nuclear reactor not suited for peaceful purposes would make a mockery of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty," said the note, as read to the Associated Press.

The diplomats said that the U.S. was pushing to encourage Kazakhstan to challenge Damascus for the seat, but the Kazakhs apparently are reluctant to do so, fearing lack of support.

Syria rejected the IAEA request for a visit late last month, the diplomats said.

A Syrian diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Syrian mission to the IAEA were spreading the word among other missions that further inspections beyond the one in June were unlikely.

IAEA experts returned from a four-day June 25 visit carrying environmental samples from the Al Kibar site hit by Israel in September. Those samples are now being evaluated, but the results may fall short of providing a conclusive results.

A traditional method at suspected nuclear sites - taking swipes in the search for radioactive traces - was unlikely to have been of use at Al Kibar. That's because none had been introduced into the alleged reactor before it was struck by Israel, according to intelligence given to the agency by the U.S., Israel and a third country the diplomats declined to identify.

So, the inspectors also looked for minute quantities of graphite, which is used as a cooling element in the type of North Korean prototype that was allegedly being built with help from Pyongyang. Such a reactor contains hundreds of tons of graphite, and any major explosion would have sent dust over the immediate area.

But if the Syrians were interested in a cover-up, they would have scoured the region to bury, wash away and otherwise remove any such traces. And although U.S. intelligence says the reactor was close to completion, it is possible that graphite elements were not yet installed at the time of the Sept. 6 bombing.

If so, the initial probe might be inconclusive, making further trips necessary. The agency also is interested in going to three other locations suspected of possibly harboring other secret nuclear activities - sites the Syrians insist are off limits.

More broadly, IAEA experts had hoped to use a follow-up visit to put questions to Syrian officials based on the intelligence available to them outlining years of extensive cooperation between the Syrians and teams of visiting North Korean nuclear officials.

North Korea exploded a nuclear device in 2006. The North is believed by experts to have produced enough weapons-grade plutonium to make as many as 10 nuclear bombs before agreeing to dismantle its weapons program early last year.

But the diplomats said Syria was strenuously denying any concerted North Korean presence in the country - despite U.S. intelligence alleging that the building bombed was reactor of the type only built by the communist state.

They said Syrian officials described meetings between nuclear officials from Pyongyang and their Syrian counterparts occasional and informal, despite intelligence information to the contrary.

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Syrian official says progess reached in talks with Israel

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1.	IAEA Inspections	12:24	\|	Ralph	09/08/08

2.	#1 I agree with you	14:05	\|	John	09/08/08

3.	Ralph: IAEA never reqested to access to	14:15	\|	Darth Zaider (Ed)	09/08/08

4.	Emperor Tosefta`s new clothes	14:27	\|	FOX	09/08/08

5.	Not politically correct	14:40	\|	Clint Eastwood	09/08/08

6.	Once Iran becomes nuclear, its allies Syr and Leb will become too	14:42	\|	Aounist	09/08/08

7.	#1 Israel not signatory to the NPT	15:03	\|	Johnny	09/08/08

8.	TRAITOR Olmert EAGER to give away Golan to Enemy Syria	15:48	\|	Linda Rivera	09/08/08

9.	Golan	15:51	\|	Ron	09/08/08

10.	#1 Ralph....US has inspected nuclear power plants	15:59	\|	Lynn	09/08/08

11.	ralph 1	16:05	\|	potobac	09/08/08

12.	Stickybeaks 1 & 2	16:10	\|	x-ray	09/08/08

13.	#1 - Problem with your arugment, Ralph	16:30	\|	JES	09/08/08

14.	more to the point	16:50	\|	curious george	09/08/08

15.	Why not inspect all plants in ME including Israel?	16:51	\|	Jack	09/08/08

16.	Ohhhh Ralph	17:24	\|	Robert	09/08/08

17.	Ralph (#1)	17:26	\|	Gil	09/08/08

18.	Syrian blockade of IAEA CAN ONLY mean...	17:29	\|	The Archives	09/08/08

19.	Israel already has nukes, now stop Iran and Syria	17:32	\|	Joey	09/08/08

20.	Ralph (#1)	17:34	\|	Gil	09/08/08

21.	#1 Ralph in Canada is right!	17:53	\|	John Allen	09/08/08

22.	No one has the right to have Nukes Joey	18:10	\|	Ramius	09/08/08

23.	Syria fears a massive atomic agency investigation!	18:50	\|	Fred	09/08/08

24.	Ralph living in Canada on stolen LAND	18:58	\|	Absolutely Canadian	09/08/08

25.	#12 Israel not signatory to the NPT	19:03	\|	Johnny	09/08/08

26.	Where is Mark Lincoln?	19:15	\|	Oy Vey	09/08/08

27.	The games everybody`s playing with the IAEA are really funny.	19:33	\|	S	09/08/08

28.	2 months ago I said here that they will never give them access	19:50	\|	Dan	09/08/08

29.	Israel mocks the NPT	19:50	\|	mgb	09/08/08

30.	Iran is and Israel isnt! sorry folks...	19:53	\|	Absolutely Canadian	09/08/08

31.	If Iran	20:43	\|	utagawa	09/08/08

32.	tell syria, russia iran, lebanon we hold them responsible for hez	21:27	\|	ralph	09/08/08

33.	mgb 29	00:09	\|	ChanahS	10/08/08

34.	Syria, the criminals that they are	04:49	\|	Cipora Julianna Kohn	10/08/08

35.	Israel never threatened to annihilate any people or any country.	08:19	\|	Jean Van Daem	10/08/08

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