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Last update - 23:04 28/10/2008
IAEA: Samples from alleged Syria nuke site justify further probe
By The Associated Press
Tags: Israel news, IAEA, Syria 

Freshly evaluated soil and air samples from a Syrian site bombed by Israel on suspicion it was a covert nuclear reactor provide enough evidence to push ahead with a United Nations probe, diplomats said Tuesday.

The findings are important after months of uncertainty about the status of the investigation by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear watchdog.

Preliminary results regarding environmental samples collected from the site by an IAEA team and made public earlier this year were inconclusive and failed to yield proof of nuclear activity, adding weight to Syrian assertions that no trips beyond the initial IAEA visit in June were necessary. But the diplomats told The Associated Press that the IAEA's final evaluation, completed a few days ago, has the agency convinced it needs to press on with its investigation.
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"The agency feels there is enough evidence there to warrant a follow-up" said one of the diplomats. He, and a colleague from another IAEA country demanded anonymity in exchange for divulging confidential information, which is not meant to be made public until the IAEA's meeting of its 35-nation board of governors next month.

The U.S. says the facility hit by Israel Air Force jets nearly 13 months ago was a nearly completed reactor that - when on line - could produce plutonium, a pathway to nuclear arms.

But Damascus denies running a covert program. On Tuesday, Ambassador Mohammed Badi Khattab - his country's chief IAEA delegate ? said that he was unaware that the evaluation had been completed and could not comment until his country was told of the findings.

Ibrahim Othman, Syria's nuclear chief, has said his country would wait for final environmental results before deciding how to respond to repeated IAEA requests for follow-up visits to the one in June, when the samples were collected. Khattab repeated that stance, saying further developments will "depend on us receiving the final result."

In an oral report to an IAEA board meeting last month, IAEA chief Mohamed
ElBaradei told the board meeting that preliminary results from the environmental samples came up with no indication to back the claims that the destroyed target was a nuclear facility.

Alluding to Othman's stance, he said Syria would decide on whether to provide more information and allow further IAEA visits depending on the results of the samples taken during the first visit - implying that Damascus could shut the doors on the probe if the all the samples came up empty.

A diplomat attending that closed meeting told the AP Khattab suggested Syria would not allow further visits under any circumstances because it was still technically at war with Israel and was concerned any additional IAEA probe would expose some of its non-nuclear military secrets.

Another cited ElBaradei as saying "the corpse is gone" - alluding to the difficulty of investigating the bombed site months after it was hit last year by Israel and subsequently cleaned up and altered by the Syrians.

But - while the diplomats queried Tuesday had no specifics on what the samples contained - one of them said it convinced the IAEA it needs to press on with its probe.

Another said that ElBaradei was planning a written report on Syria for the upcoming board meeting starting Nov. 27 - something he had said he would do only if he had substantive developments to share.

Beyond wanting to revisit the site bombed by Israel, IAEA experts also want to follow up on U.S, Israeli and other intelligence that North Korea was involved in building the alleged Syrian program.

IAEA officials have also been seeking permission to visit three other sites purportedly linked to the alleged reactor destroyed by Israel - although Syria has already said that those locations are off limits because they are in restricted military areas.

Syria fears the IAEA probe could lead to a massive investigation similar to the probe Iran has been subjected to for more than five years - and to related fallout. Iran is under three sets of UN sanctions because of its refusal to heed Security Council demands to curb its nuclear activities.

IAEA experts came back June 25 from a four-day visit carrying environmental samples from the Al Kibar site hit by Israel. But intelligence suggests that radioactive material had not yet been introduced into the alleged reactor before it was destroyed, so swipes taken in search of radioactive traces were unlikely to have been of use.

That left the inspectors looking for other components, including minute quantities of graphite, 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.

Related articles:
  • Report: IAF strike targeted partly finished nuclear reactor in Syria
  • Syria: There are no N. Korea-Syria nuclear facilities whatsoever
  • Report: Syria rebuilding alleged nuclear site bombed by IAF
  • Report: IDF raid seized nuclear material before Syria air strike

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