WASHINGTON, April 24 (Xinhua) -- Syria on Thursday "utterly" denied U.S. allegations that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) helped it construct a nuclear reactor.
"The government of the Syrian Arab Republic regrets and denounces the campaign of false allegations that the current United States administration continually launches against Syria claiming the presence of nuclear activity," the Syrian Embassy in the United States said in a statement.
Damascus "utterly denies these allegations," it said.
The denial came shortly after Washington said on the same day that DPRK's assistance to Syria's secret nuclear program is "a dangerous and potentially destabilizing development for the world."
"We are convinced, based on a variety of information, that North Korea assisted Syria's covert nuclear activities," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said in a statement.
Calling the U.S. allegations as "unfounded", the Syrian statement said this campaign of the United States "aims primarily to misguide the U.S. Congress and international public opinion to justify the Israeli raid in September of 2007," which Syria said the current U.S. administration may have helped executed.
Syria said on Sept. 6, 2007 that its air defenses opened fire on Israeli warplanes that entered its airspace at dawn and forced them to leave.
In response, Israel said they were unaware of any such incident. The Bush administration also declined to comment on Syria's allegations at the time.
The Syrian statement said it was obvious that "this maneuver on the part of this administration comes within the framework of the North Korean nuclear negotiations."
Syria also called on the United States to act responsibly and desist from creating further crises in the Middle East, which already suffers from the results and repercussions of failed American policies in the region.
U.S. alleges DPRK-Syria nuclear
co-op
WASHINGTON, April 24 (Xinhua) -- The United States said on
Thursday the assistance of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to
Syria's secret nuclear program is "a dangerous and potentially destabilizing
development for the world."
"We are convinced, based on a variety of information, that
North Korea assisted Syria's covert nuclear activities," White House spokeswoman
Dana Perino said in a statement. Full story
Israel fears U.S. hearings on Syrian
reactor attack disclose top secret
JERUSALEM, April 24 (Xinhua) -- Israeli defense officials
in Jerusalem have expressed concern that classified details of Israel's bombing
of a Syrian nuclear facility last September will be disclosed during U.S.
congressional hearings on the incident Thursday in Washington, local daily
Ha'aretz reported on its website.
The American administration is slated to provide
Thursday extensive details about the nature of the facility destroyed by the
Israel Air Force (IAF) on September 6. Full story
Spokesman: Israel interested in
restarting peace talks with Syria
JERUSALEM, April 24 (Xinhua) -- Israel was interested in
restarting peace talks with Syria, a spokesman of Israeli Prime Minister's
Office said on Thursday.
"We are interested in peace with Syria. We know what
the Syrians expect from negotiations and the Syrians knows what Israel wants
from the negotiations," Mark Regev, spokesman of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud
Olmert, was quoted by local daily Ha'aretz as saying. Full story
