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Alleged Syrian nuclear reactor
Photo: AFP

Diplomats: Initial tests show Syrian site hit by Israel not a nuke reactor

Diplomats says preliminary International Atomic Energy Agency probe of Syrian site destroyed by Israel reveals no evidence of nuclear activity, contrary to previous claims by US; results of more detailed environmental tests still outstanding

Diplomats say partial results of samples from a Syrian site bombed by Israel show nothing to back up US assertions that the target was a secret nuclear reactor.

 

The diplomats caution that the results from the International Atomic Energy Agency probe are preliminary. They say results of more detailed environmental tests are still outstanding.

 

Still, several have told the AP that agency officials do not expect those tests to strongly contradict the first results.

 

The three diplomats spoke to The AP on Saturday. They demanded anonymity because their information was confidential.

 

Because the building bombed last year was not yet finished, it would not have contained nuclear material even if it had been planned as a reactor. Experts have been looking for other material linked to such a facility.

 

On Thursday CIA Director Gen. Michael Hayden said the destruction of the suspected reactor last year was the result of an intelligence collaboration that included a "foreign partner" who first identified the facility's purpose.

 

The reactor at the desert outpost of Al-Kibar was flattened in an air strike on September 6, 2007 that senior US intelligence officials have said was carried out by Israel on its own initiative.

 

"Our foreign partnerships ... were critical to the final outcome," Hayden said in a speech for delivery to the World Affairs Council of Los Angeles.

 

A US intelligence official declined to specify the partner Hayden referred to or to say whether it was Israel. He said there have been no signs that Syria was trying to replace the destroyed reactor.

 

AP and Reuters contributed to the report

 


פרסום ראשון: 09.20.08, 22:07
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