WASHINGTON URGES UN TO SEARCH FOR MORE SYRIAN NUCLEAR SITES
US officials pressing IAEA to broaden scope of search in Syria after nuclear facilities, Washington Post reports
Syrian nuclear facility bombed by Israel Photo: AFP
The United States is pressing UN inspectors to broaden the scope of a search in Syria to include possible secret nuclear facilities, The Washington Post reported in Thursday editions, citing US government officials and Western diplomats.
At least three sites have been identified by US officials and passed along to the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the newspaper reported. US government officials declined to describe the specific sites that have drawn interest or to discuss how they were identified, it said. Citing unnamed sources, the Post said US officials want to know if the suspect sites may have been support facilities for the alleged Al Kibar reactor destroyed in an Israeli raid in September. Syria has said the facility was a disused military building in its eastern desert that had no nuclear link. It has yet to accept a request from the IAEA to visit the site.