Syria denies existence of nuclear site

A UN spokesman has said that a Syrian official did not say that there was a nuclear facility in Syria and that a UN report which appeared to suggest that he had was the result of an "interpretation error".

"There was an interpretation error" (in the English translation) while the Syrian delegate was addressing the General Assembly's disarmament committee in Arabic Tuesday, Farhan Haq, a UN spokesman, told reporters.

"Although the interpreter suggested that the Syrian delegate had referred to an attack on a nuclear facility, what he said was 'like what happened on the 6 of September against my country'," Haq said after UN officials reviewed the Arabic tape of the remarks. "There was no use of the word nuclear".

Israeli newspapers have seized on the misinterpreted remarks as proof that Israel did, in fact, hit a nuclear facility when it invaded Syria recently.

The Israeli media reports have caused Damascus to issue a denial, stating that there are no nuclear facilities in Syria.

"The ministry denies media reports that Syria's ambassador in New York had said the September 6 raid targeted a nuclear plant because no such facility exists in Syria," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

"Syria has already made this clear in the past," it added.

This coincides with the opinion of the IAEA who have said that they are unaware of any undeclared nuclear sites in Syria.

Indeed, the IAEA has reminded other nations of their obligations to inform them of any information they may have if another country is in breach of the NNPT.

"We would obviously investigate any relevant information coming our way. The IAEA Secretariat expects any country having information about nuclear-related activities in another country to provide that information to the IAEA."

Neither Israel nor the US have responded to this.

And with the Americans and the Israelis both refusing to comment officially about what the Hell the Israelis were playing at when they illegally entered Syrian airspace, I think we can safely assume that, had the US and Israel any real proof that Syria were developing a nuclear programme, that they would be shouting that information from the rooftops.

Their silence speaks volumes.

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Tags: Israel, Syria, United States, IAEA