The Washington Post quoted an American Mideast expert on Saturday, who said the alleged IAF strike in northern Syria last week was linked to a shipment that Syria received from North Korea. According to the expert ,the shipment was labeled as cement, but Israel belived it contained nuclear equipment. The newspaper said that the IAF strike targeted a facility which Syria claims is an agricultural research enter.
A senior US official said Friday that Damascus may have contacts with secret suppliers to obtain nuclear goods. Andrew Semmel, acting deputy assistant Secretary of State for the nuclear non proliferation policy, said he also believes that North Koreans are in Syria. Semmel added that he could not rule out the possibility that the network is being run by disgraced Pakistani nuclear scientist AQ Khan.
Semmel in Italy to attend a meeting on the Nuclear Porliferation Treaty, said Syria is on the US nuclear watch list. “There are indicators that they do have something going on there,”Semmel said. He added that the US is aware that there have been a number of foreign technicians visiting Syria, and that there may have been contact with suppliers for nuclear equipment. Semmel spoke to the Associated Press.
Meanwhile US Secretary of Sate Condoleeza Rice said on Friday that the US is concerned over the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. In an interview with the Fox news network, Rice said, "it is our duty to take a stance on countries, and prevent the most dangerous people in the world from acquiring the most dangerous weapons in the world, and that is what we are doing every day."
Earlier this week, the Washington Post reported that US Administration officials suspect that north Korea is assisting Syria to build a nuclear facility. The report quotes an unnamed official who says that satellite imagery collected with Israel's assistance, shows that such a facility may be under construction. According to the newspaper report, the images were collected over a six month period.Access to the information has been extremely restricted and is being channeled by a team headed by security adviser Stephen J. Hadley, the newspaper said. Because of this many officials in the intelligence community have been kept in the dark. A week after Israel's flyover in Syria, numerous reports citing details of the flyover have been published in the media by well known networks and newspapers.
On Wednesday, a report in the New York Times said Bush Administration officials believe Israel carried out reconnaissance flights over Syria to take pictures of possible nuclear instillations that may have been supplied with materials or components from North Korea. The newspaper reported that administration officials suspect North Korea may have been supplying Syria with nuclear material.
On Tuesday, CNN reported that Israel Air Force jets that allegedly infiltrated Syrian airspace early last Thursday apparently bombed an Iranian arms shipment that was being transferred to Hizbullah, Tuesday. A ground operation may also have been part of the foray, according to the network. Jerusalem refused to confirm or deny the report.
CNN said the operation involved ground forces and that the aerial strike left "a great hole in the desert." Although it did not name a specific source, the network cited "US government officials." The jets have been identified by the Turkish authorities as IAF F15Is, Israel's long-range bomber, after fuel tanks were found in Turkish territory. The CNN report said the IAF's targets were likely weaponry delivered to Syria that was possibly intended for use by Hizbullah.09/15/07Margot DudkevitchInfolive.tv
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