Syria has continued blocking an international investigation into activities once carried out at a suspected nuclear reactor site destroyed by Israel two years ago, International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei told the organization's 35-nation governing board yesterday (see GSN, June 18).
"I urge Syria to cooperate with the agency in its verification activities related to the nature of the Dair Alzour site. It is in Syria´s interest to enable the agency to corroborate its statements. I also call on other states which may possess information relevant to the agency's verification to make such information available to the agency," ElBaradei said (International Atomic Energy Agency release, Sept. 7).
In an Aug. 13 letter, Syria said the facility could not have produced the trace amounts of uranium found at the bombed site because the building remained unfinished at the time of the attack, ElBaradei said late last month in his latest report to the board on Syria's compliance with U.N. nuclear inspections. Damascus has alleged that the particles were left by depleted uranium munitions used in the Israeli strike.
Syria has cooperated with a separate agency probe investigating the sources of particles uncovered from an undeclared uranium supply at a research reactor in Damascus, the report states (Diane Barnes, Global Security Newswire, Sept. 8).