Nuclear

Syria agrees to nuclear probe

UN nuclear inspectors will visit Syria this month to investigate allegations that the country was building a nuclear reactor at a site attacked by Israel last September, officials said.

International Atomic Energy Agency's Mohamed ElBaradei says the inspection team will visit Syria in June.

The International Atomic Energy Agency's fact-finding mission is expected to take place from June 22 to 24.

Information about the Israeli bombing of the site did not come to light until April when U.S. officials informed IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei that it believes the facility was a nuclear reactor.

At the time, ElBaradei said the IAEA will treat the information "with the seriousness it deserves and will investigate the veracity of the information."

"Syria has an obligation under its safeguards agreement with the IAEA to report the planning and construction of any nuclear facility to the agency," he said.

The White House said the covert nuclear reactor was hidden from view, would have been capable of producing plutonium and likely was "not intended for peaceful purposes." The White House also said that it believes North Korea assisted Syria's nuclear activities.

Syria's ambassador to the United States criticized the Bush administration's claims, saying Syria never worked with North Korea on a nuclear program.

"I hope the truth will be revealed to everyone," Imad Moustapha told CNN at the time. "This will be a major embarrassment to the U.S. administration for the second time - they lied about the Iraqi WMDs (weapons of mass destruction) and they are trying to do it again."

Israeli officials have not commented publicly on what the target of the strike was.

(Published by CNN News - june 2, 2008)