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Israel denies Syria claim it left traces of uranium at nuclear site bombed by IAF
By Reuters
Tags: Israel, Israel News, Syria 

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An Israeli official, who could not be identified by name, said Israel had replied to the IAEA since Jan. 1.

"Our ambassador to the IAEA told them, in essence, that there was no possibility that the uranium found at the site could have originated with the Israel Air Force," the official said.

"The response, as I understand it, basically said, 'It wasn't us', full stop," a senior Western diplomat said. "It was not a detailed response ... The nature of the response is not hugely surprising."

An IAEA spokeswoman could not confirm the exchange with Israel but said IAEA Director General Mohammed ElBaradei would give an update on the Syria investigation in February.

At the IAEA November board meeting ElBaradei urged states to share information on the bombing - an appeal to Israel in particular, which has neither confirmed the attack took place nor commented on the building it bombed.

"For the agency to complete its assessment, maximum transparency by Syria and the full sharing with the agency of all relevant information which other states may have are essential," ElBaradei said.

He also said at the time it was "regrettable, indeed baffling" why there was no high-resolution satellite imagery of the site available for the period right after the bombing.

The United States gave intelligence to the IAEA last April that Washington said indicated the Syrian site was a reactor close to being built with North Korean assistance and designed to produce plutonium for atomic bombs.

Syria, an ally of Iran whose disputed uranium enrichment program has been under IAEA investigation for years, says the site was a conventional military building.

ElBaradei has urged Syria to be more open, but diplomats familiar with the issue say Damascus has still not met IAEA demands for more access and documents.

Diplomats say the IAEA investigations into Syria and Iran are unlikely to move forward before Barack Obama takes over from U.S. President George W. Bush later this month.

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