U.S. to prod Syrian envoy on support of terrorism, suspected nuclear program

The State Department is talking with Syria to discuss U.S. allegations that the Arab country supports terror groups and is pursuing nuclear weapons, a department official said Friday.

A meeting with the Syrian ambassador, scheduled for next week at the State Department, will be the first such session since last September and reflects Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's interest in talking directly with Syria and other countries at odds with the United States, spokesman Gordon Duguid said.

"It's her belief that direct engagement with Syria will advance U.S. interests," Duguid said.

Ambassador Imad Moustapha is to meet with Jeffrey D. Feltman, the acting assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, at Feltman's request, Duguid said. Clinton is not scheduled to participate.

"Our concerns include Syria's support to terrorist groups and networks, Syria's pursuit of nuclear and nonconventional weaponry, interference in Lebanon and a worsening human rights situation," Duguid said.

The spokesman cited the International Atomic Energy Agency's report Thursday that samples taken from a Syrian site suspected of being a secretly built nuclear reactor have revealed new traces of processed uranium.

The report noted the refusal by Damascus to allow agency inspectors to make follow-up visits to sites suspected of harboring a secret nuclear program. Syria denies hiding any such program.

The samples referred to in Thursday's report were obtained during a visit in June to the Al Kibar site bombed in 2007 by Israeli jets. Minute traces of processed uranium from those samples were found late last year, and Thursday's report reflected additional traces found after additional analysis.

Syria has suggested the traces came from Israeli ordnance used against the site, but the report said the composition of the uranium made that unlikely. Israel has denied it was the source of the uranium.

U.S.-Syrian relations long have been tense, particularly since the U.S. ambassador was pulled out by the Bush administration in 2005 to protest Syria's suspected role in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Damascus denied involvement, but in the uproar that followed it was forced to withdraw its troops from Lebanon and end a 29-year military presence in the neighboring country.

The United States also has criticized Syria for supporting militant groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah and has accused Syria of not doing enough to prevent foreign fighters from crossing into Iraq. Syria has said it is doing all it can to safeguard its long, porous border.

With the Obama administration's blessing, Democratic Sen. John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is in the Middle East for visits to include a stop in Damascus.

During his stop in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, Kerry received through a UN official a letter addressed to President Barack Obama that officials said was from the Hamas movement, which rules Gaza. The State Department said Kerry gave the letter to officials at the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem, and the White House was notified.

Israel to UN: Keep probing Syria nuclear activityOn Friday Israel urged the United Nations nuclear watchdog to continue investigating a site in Syria attacked by the Israel Air Force in 2007.

The Foreign Ministry did not mention Israel's role in the attack on the suspected nuclear facility in a statement released Friday, which was the first such to be issued on the matter since the IAF raid.

"Israel expresses concern with regard to the findings of the report that point to the nuclear character of the facility that Syria apparently attempted to erect clandestinely, including the discovery of uranium at the site," the statement said.

The statement came after the release of the IAEA report Thursday that samples taken from the site have revealed new traces of processed uranium, which did not originate in missiles fired by IAF jets.

The Foreign Ministry statement added: "Israel expects the continuation of the comprehensive investigation, without bias, by the IAEA and its director, including visits to additional sites that Syria is currently prevented access to."

Since the 2007 raid, Israel has officially maintained silence on all matters pertaining to the event, and the militant censor has imposed a media blackout on most of its details.