Diplomats: Syria to let IAEA inspectors visit only one suspected nuclear site

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Syria told a 35-nation meeting Thursday that it will limit what UN nuclear inspectors can see when they check allegations that Damascus has a hidden atomic program, diplomats said. The main purpose of a planned June 22-24 visit later this month by International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors is to investigate US assertions that a target flattened in September by Israeli war planes was a nearly completed plutonium-producing reactor built with North Korean help. But the agency also would like more information on three other sites identified by US intelligence as hidden nuclear facilities, possibly linked to attempts to produce atomic arms. Agency officials have said they hope for Syrian cooperation in that regard as well. Diplomats already told The Associated Press on Tuesday that Ibrahim Othman, the top Syrian nuclear official, had said it would not let any IAEA probe extend beyond the bombed site at Al Kabir.