IAEA To Investigate Syrian Nuclear Reactor

The IAEA will investigate the Syrian nuclear reactor that was destroyed by the Israelis last year based on intelligence from the US. The US says that the Syrians received help from the North Koreans. The IAEA was also upset that they did not receive the intelligence earlier. It seems that the IAEA is always the last to know.

The UN's nuclear watchdog says it will investigate US claims that Syria was building a secret nuclear reactor with North Korean help.

US officials said the alleged Syrian reactor "was not intended for peaceful purposes", after CIA officials briefed members of Congress.

Syria has said the US claim is "ridiculous" and denied any nuclear links to North Korea.

The site, said to be like one in North Korea, was bombed by Israel in 2007.

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In late October 2007, an independent American research organisation, the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), released pre- and post-strike satellite images of the site which indicated it had been bulldozed flat after the bombing.

"Until 6 September, 2007, the Syrian regime was building a covert nuclear reactor in its eastern desert capable of producing plutonium," the White House statement said.

"The Syrian regime must come clean before the world regarding its illicit nuclear activities."

The statement added that the US had long been "seriously concerned about North Korea's nuclear weapons programme and its proliferation activities".