The United States today urged Syria to grant U.N. inspectors access to facilities and information that would shed light on suspected nuclear operations in the Middle Eastern state, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, June 17).
(Jun. 18) -
U.S. diplomat Geoffrey Pyatt today accused Syria of hindering an international probe of its nuclear activities (U.S. State Department photo).
Syria has only permitted the International Atomic Energy Agency to inspect the remains of an alleged nuclear reactor on one occasion since Israel destroyed the site in a 2007 airstrike. Inspectors uncovered uranium traces during the visit, but Damascus has maintained that no nuclear activities were being carried out at the facility.
"Over one year has passed since the IAEA began investigating Syria's clandestine nuclear activities related to the destroyed reactor at Dair Alzour," Geoffrey Pyatt, U.S. deputy chief of mission, said at a closed meeting of the U.N. nuclear watchdog's 35-nation governing board in Vienna.
"Regrettably, Syria has not used this time to resolve the lingering questions about the reactor and the associated facilities," he said. "Instead, the agency's list of questions is growing."
The agency recently reported it had also discovered particles from an undeclared uranium supply at a research reactor in Damascus.
Syria has "chosen to hinder the agency's efforts," Pyatt said.
"We call on Syria to cooperate fully with the agency without delay to address all unresolved questions," said the U.S. envoy. "We must understand why (the uranium particles) -- material that was not previously declared to the IAEA -- was detected at two facilities in Syria, one of which was being constructed clandestinely" (Agence France-Presse/Spacewar.com, June 18).
Israel today argued that IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei was unfairly favoring Syria in the nuclear probe, the Associated Press reported.
ElBaradei has harshly critiqued Israel's decision to attack the facility at Dair Alzour, also known as al-Kibar, arguing that Jerusalem should instead have asked the agency to investigate the site's possible nuclear activities.
In addition, the IAEA chief has not categorically rejected Syria's contention that uranium particles found at Dair Alzour were remnants of Israeli munitions used in the 2007 bombing, although he has deemed the claim to be unlikely. Israel, meanwhile, has consistently denied that munitions used to destroy the facility contained depleted uranium.
"Israel has responded ... in good faith" to the claim, Israeli Ambassador to the nuclear watchdog Israel Michael said. "Therefore, the repeated call by the director general on Israel to cooperate with this investigation is redundant.
"Had the director general wished for further information from Israel, he would have not refused to meet with Israeli officials and refrained from publicly lashing (out) at Israel," he said. "Israel calls on the director general to avoid political bias in dealing with the Syrian file" (Associated Press/USA Today, June 18).
ElBaradei, an Egyptian diplomat who is in his final months as IAEA chief, quickly fired back, according to comments obtained by Global Security Newswire.
"When Israel took it upon itself to destroy a facility, what was claimed to be a nuclear facility, without giving the agency the opportunity to verify that ... this was not only making it almost impossible for us to establish the facts, but it was a clear violation of international law," ElBaradei said.
"Israel's answer to me ... when I asked whether Israel used depleted uranium, was simply one line,
saying 'It could not have come from us' quote, unquote," the director general added. "That is almost an insult to our investigative process. I will continue to ask your government to report to us exactly what sort of ammunition you used, what information led you to circumvent the agency process, and to tell us all the
information you have that can help us with our investigation."
He noted that Israel has not joined the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. The nation is widely assumed to possess an arsenal of nuclear weapons.
"You cannot sit on the fence, making use of the system, without being accountable," said ElBaradei, who denied any bias.
"To say that I am biased, I will not dignify that with a response. I will leave it to the board, who can decide whether we are doing our work with the required impartiality and professionalism," he said (Chris Schneidmiller, Global Security Newswire, June 18).