North Korean atom experts visited Syria

North Korean atom experts visited Syria
By Barak Ravid, Avi Issacharoff and Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondents and News Agencies

"Syria was on the U.S. nuclear watch list," a senior U.S. official told the Associated Press on Friday, asserting that foreign technicians were in the country and that there had been possible contacts with suppliers for nuclear equipment.

Andrew Semmel, acting deputy assistant secretary for nuclear nonproliferation policy, didn't name the suppliers, but said there were North Koreans in Syria and that he couldn't exclude that the network run by disgraced Pakistan nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan was possibly involved.

Semmel was responding to questions about an alleged Israel Air Force airstrike in northern Syria last week. Neither side has explained what exactly happened, but a U.S. government official confirmed that Israeli warplanes were targeting weapons from Iran and destined for Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.

"There are indicators that they do have something going on there, he said," Semmel said. "We do know that there are a number of foreign technicians that have been in Syria. We do know that there may have been contact between Syria and some secret suppliers for nuclear equipment. Whether anything transpired remains to be seen."

"So good foreign policy, good national security policy, would suggest that we pay very close attention to that," he said. "We're watching very closely. Obviously, the Israelis We're watching very closely."

Asked if the suppliers could have been North Koreans, he said: "There are North Korean people there. There's no question about that. Just as there are a lot of North Koreans in Iraq and Iran."

Asked if the so-called Khan network, which supplied nuclear technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea, could have been involved, he said he wouldn't exclude it.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack declined to comment on Semmel's remarks but noted that the United States had long-standing concerns about North Korea and nuclear proliferation.

"We've also expressed, over time, our concerns about North Korea's activities in terms of dealing with A.Q. Khan and others around the globe," he told reporters.

McCormack said he was not aware of any specific link between North Korea and Syria.

Ex-U.S. envoy: Iran and Syria are 'safe havens' for N. Korea nuclear activity

The former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, said North Korea may be using Syria and Iran as "safe havens" for its nuclear activity, and another U.S. official was quoted as saying Damascus may be building a nuclear facility with North Korean assistance.

Bolton recently told Haaretz that United States President George W. Bush warned North Korea last year against transferring nuclear material to Syria, Iran or a terrorist organization, saying such a move would be perceived as a "grave threat."

Bolton, now affiliated with the "American Enterprise Institute" in Washington, served Bush in his first term as Under-Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security. In that capacity, as well as later, he clashed with other officials, most notably from CIA, regarding Syria's nuclear plans.

Israel has refused to make any comment about the incident. However, senior Israeli and American officials have expressed speculations that the alleged attack was designed to thwart the possible development of Syrian nuclear capabilities.

A former Israeli official who would not be named said he had heard the attack had been carried out against a facility capable of producing non-conventional weapons.

In an interview on Fox News on Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in response to a question on reports of Syrian nuclear development, that her government is working to prevent "the world's most dangerous people from having the world's most dangerous weapons."

Rice did not refer directly to Syria at any point, but said, "That's why we have a Proliferation Security Initiative that tries to intercept dangerous cargos. So this is something that's been at the highest point of the President's agenda since he came into power and we work every day and we watch it every day and we're vigilant about it and we're determined."

Fox also quoted U.S. sources as saying North Korea had apparently transferred information, technology and equipment to enrich uranium.

According to a Washington Post report, a U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said recent satellite images gathered over the past six months, mostly by Israeli sources, indicate Syria may be building such a facility.

Access to the information has been heavily restricted to a team headed by security adviser Stephen J. Hadley, leaving many in the intelligence community unaware of the reports' significance, the Post quoted sources as saying.

Reuters reported Wednesday that U.S. officials had confirmed that the IAF strike, but would not discuss the intended targets.

"The strike I can confirm. The target, I can't," said one U.S. official, adding that there had been more than one strike. Another official called reports on the likely targets "confused."

The New York Times said Wednesday that likely targets were weapons caches Israel believed Iran was sending to Hezbollah via Syria, a claim dismissed later in the day by the Syrian ambassador to the United Nations.

"This is blah blah. This is nonsense, this is an unfounded statement. It is not up to the Israelis or anyone else to assess what we have in Syria," said Bashar Ja'afari.

"There was no target, they dropped their munitions. They were running away after they were confronted by our air defense," he added.

The New York Times quoted a Defense Department official as saying the IAF struck at least one target in northeastern Syria, but said it was unclear what the target was and what was the extent of the damage.

Syria said Friday that there would be no military response to the incident. Damascus protested Tuesday to the United Nations about the strike.

Israel has repeatedly declined to comment on the matter, but American television network CNN reported Tuesday that the Israeli government is "very happy with the successful operation."

Senior CNN correspondent Christiane Amanpour, citing Middle Eastern and Washington sources, said aircraft and possibly even ground forces, who may have directed the planes to their target, took part in the operation.

The attack left "a big hole in the desert," the report said. CNN quoted U.S. government and military sources as saying they were "happy to have Israel convey to both Syria and Iran the message that they can get in and out and strike when necessary."

Al-Jaafari said Israel had violated Syrian air space and dropped munitions, but denied that Israel had landed troops inside Syria.

"This is absolutely not true," he said, adding that the reports were an attempt to show that Israel could land troops wherever it wants.

The only countries that have expressed solidarity with Syria are Iran and North Korea. Russia issued a condemnation of sorts.

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