Western nations last week accused Syria of trying to "sanitize" a suspected nuclear facility, while the top U.N. nuclear official expressed puzzlement at his agency's inability to acquire satellite imagery of the site shortly after it was destroyed by Israel last year, news agencies reported (see GSN, Nov. 26).
(Dec. 1) -
IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei last week expressed frustration that his agency could not purchase satellite images depicting the bombed remains of an alleged Syrian reactor site (Samuel Kubani/Getty Images).
Suspicions that Syria was building a covert nuclear reactor have grown since the International Atomic Energy Agency reported last month that it had found man-made uranium during a June inspection of the site. The area, however, had seen extensive landscaping following the Israeli attack, said IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei, who asked for greater Syrian cooperation last week at a meeting of the agency's governing board. Syrian officials have denied that the site had any nuclear role, claiming it was a conventional military installation.
U.S. envoy Gregory Schulte told the board that satellite images taken months after the attack showed "dramatic evidence that Syria took immediate steps to sanitize" the destroyed facility and three other sites that might be related. "So far, Syria seems to be testing the tactics of hindrance and unhelpfulness that Iran has so finely honed" (Mark Heinrich, Reuters I, Nov. 29).
In his opening statement to the board, ElBaradei complained that the agency could not buy satellite images taken shortly after the attack.
"For its assessment of the site immediately after the bombing, the agency was unable to obtain commercial satellite imagery. It is regrettable, and indeed baffling, that imagery for this critical period, which would have been most valuable in helping to clarify the nature of the building that was destroyed, was not available," he said (International Atomic Energy Agency release, Nov. 27).
The scarcity of pictures could be the result of the seven nations with commercial imagery satellites deliberately refusing access to them, diplomats told Reuters, or perhaps Syria purchased exclusive rights to them in an effort to frustrate agency investigators.
The agency has recently acquired new images, but they are not high-resolution pictures, said another diplomat (Mark Heinrich, Reuters II, Nov. 27).
A Syrian official dismissed the speculation that his nation was responsible for the image drought.
"The theory that we bought all the photos is nonsense," said Syrian nuclear chief Ibrahim Othman (George Jahn, Associated Press/Google News, Nov. 27).
ElBaradei urged Damascus to provide more transparency and cooperation, offering to find ways to address Syrian concerns about keeping secrets if the bombed facility was indeed a simple military site.
"I am confident that modalities can be developed which will protect the confidentiality of military information while enabling the agency to continue with its assessment," he told the board (IAEA release).
In September, ElBaradei told the board that his investigation had been set back by the assassination of a Syrian general who served as a liaison between the agency and officials in Damascus (see GSN, Sept. 26). So far, the agency has not lined up a replacement, the Wall Street Journal reported.
"We don't have a new source," said a senior U.N. official (Jay Solomon, Wall Street Journal, Nov. 29).
Syrian Technical Assistance Approved
While the board loudly debated Syria's nuclear ambitions, it quietly approved a Syrian request for agency assistance with a study into the feasibility and siting of a nuclear power plant. The United States had protested agency support for the study during a board committee meeting early last week, but agreed to withdraw its opposition in exchange for a committee statement expressing the U.S. criticism.
"A number of states expressed strong reservations about [the] project ... pointing out that it came at a time when Syria had not yet provided all the cooperation required by the agency regarding the ongoing inquiry into allegations that a nuclear reactor was under construction without the required reporting to the agency and possible other related activities," the statement says (Greg Webb, Global Security Newswire, Dec. 1).