Syria nuclear probe may be inconclusive

By Mark Heinrich

VIENNA (Reuters) - A U.N. watchdog inquiry into a suspected Syrian covert nuclear site bombed by Israel may end inconclusively without more information than satellite pictures that are already available, a diplomat said on Wednesday.

Western analysts say a tall boxy building on the site may have contained a nuclear reactor under construction similar to North Korean design, and find it suspicious that the structure appeared to have been razed after the September 6 air raid.

Syria denies the speculation and says it is hiding nothing from International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors.

The IAEA has been studying before-and-after commercial aerial photos of the site and has asked Syria for explanations. But Syria has not replied and the pictures alone are unlikely to yield conclusions, the diplomat told Reuters.

"IAEA experts are looking back at the evolution of this facility. But with these pictures alone they feel they may be unable to draw conclusions," the diplomat, familiar with IAEA affairs but not authorised to speak on the record, told Reuters.

"If the IAEA got credible indications from anyone of nuclear procurement or activity, that would be different. But imagery of a tall building shaped like a square, that's not enough (to tell whether or not the site may have been a nuclear site)."

Mohamed ElBaradei, director of the Vienna-based agency, has urged countries with information pointing to possible secret Syrian nuclear work to give it to IAEA inspectors for checks.

But on Sunday he said that no one had come forward. He also accused Israel of taking a "bomb first and then ask questions later" approach and said that could hinder IAEA monitoring for nuclear proliferation threats globally.