UN urged to act over nuclear weapons plan

SYRIA faces being reported to the UN Security Council over suspected nuclear activity. The United States has led a drive to have the issue discussed next week at the 35-nation governing board of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

By The Newsroom

Published 28th Feb 2019, 14:03 GMT

Syria, it is claimed, has stonewalled a probe by the agency into a site bombed by Israel in 2007. US intelligence reports have said Dair Alzour was a nascent, North Korean-designed reactor intended to produce plutonium for atomic bombs.

The IAEA gave independent backing to the US allegation in a report last week, which said the desert complex was "very likely" to have been a reactor, setting the scene for possible action by the agency's board at a 6-10 June meeting in Vienna. The US has already circulated a draft resolution for the UN Security Council claiming Syrian "non-compliance".

President Bashar al-Assad already faces sanctions over his crackdown on popular protests.