Site of alleged nuclear reactor
Photo: AFP
Syrian VP Farouk al-Sharaa
Photo: AFP
Syrian VP: Syria allowed UN probe to prove US wrong
Farouk al-Sharaa says IAEA allowed in only to prove desert site destroyed by Israeli jets was not nuclear reactor, warns they will not be allowed to visit other sites requested. UN: Results inconclusive, more work to be done
Syrian Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa said his country allowed UN nuclear inspectors to visit the Al Kibar site in the remote eastern desert, destroyed by Israeli jets last year, to prove US allegations of a covert Syrian nuclear program are false.
Olli Heinonen, a deputy director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) told reporters in Vienna on Wednesday that the initial probe was inconclusive and further checks are necessary.
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He said he was satisfied with what was achieved on his three-day trip but "there is still work that needs to be done" in following up on the claims that Syria was hiding elements of a potential nuclear arms program.
However al-Sharaa warned that the IAEA inspectors will not be allowed to probe beyond the Al Kibar site, despite the UN request to visit three other suspect locations.
His comments in an interview with the Hizbullah-owned Al Manar TV station were the first from Syria on the UN visit.
'Achieved what we wanted'
Heinonen met in the Syrian capital with officials in charge of the nation's nuclear program and senior Syrian generals, in keeping with claims by Damascus that the building flattened by Israel was a non-nuclear military object.
With Syrian authorities imposing a virtual news blackout on his trip, few details of the visit had surfaced beyond the fact that Syrian authorities had allowed the three-main inspecting team to visit the Al Kibar site.
Washington hopes that the UN agency team is carrying persuasive evidence backing US intelligence that the structure was a nearly completed plutonium-producing reactor. If so, the trip could mark the start of massive atomic agency investigation similar to the probe Iran has been subjected to over the past five years. What's more, the process could draw in countries like North Korea, which Washington says helped Damascus, and Iran, also linked by media reports to Syria's nuclear strivings.
But Heinonen declined to tip his cards on what he and his team had been able to see and do beyond acknowledging that they were able to take environmental samples in the area designed to capture traces of material that were likely spread over a large area by Israeli ordinance.
"We achieved what we wanted on this first trip," he said. "We continue our discussions, we took the samples we need to take and now it's time to analyze them and also look at the information we got from Syria. We will see in the days and weeks what will happen next," he answered when asked about the chances of a follow-up visit.
