Syria Faces Criticism Over 'Secret Nuclear Reactor'

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Syria's president is doing his best to hold onto power by brutally suppressing anti-government demonstrations. Yesterday, Syrian troops reportedly killed more than 30 protesters. The Syrian crackdown has prompted international rebuke and now Syria is facing new pressure from the International Atomic Energy Agency. Governors of the IAEA are meeting in Vienna today. The agency put out a report last week concluding that a building in Syria bombed by Israel was very likely a nuclear reactor.

NPR's Mike Shuster has the story.

MIKE SHUSTER: The building was under construction near Dair Alzour, in the Syrian desert. In early September 2007, Israel bombed the site, destroying it completely. Neither Israel nor Syria said anything about the attack officially, but news leaks suggested the site was a nuclear reactor, which Syria denied.

Syria refused to let the International Atomic Energy Agency inspect the site until June 2008. When IAEA inspectors got there, they found the rubble from the attack had been taken away. What was left of the original building had been removed and a warehouse had been constructed on the site.

Olli Heinonen led the IAEA inspection team in Syria, which faced strict limitations on what it could do there.

Professor OLLI HEINONEN (Harvard University): There were some pieces of buildings left there scattered all over; small pieces of rubble and concrete. Those were not allowed to be sampled.

SHUSTER: Normally inspectors take what are called environmental samples to determine if uranium or other dangerous nuclear materials are present. There were also other sources of information about the site that were withheld from the IAEA, says Heinonen, who is now at the Belfer Center at Harvard.

Prof. HEINONEN: There were no drawings available. No people to talk about what was the purpose of the building which was there. Certainly they were happy to show what is there currently, but that's a different thing. The IAEA was interested in what was there before.

SHUSTER: Last week's IAEA report also concluded the facility under construction was based on a North Korean model that produces plutonium, which has led analysts inside and outside the agency to conclude this was part of a nuclear weapons program.

That's the view of Peter Crail of the Arms Control Association in Washington.

Mr. PETER CRAIL (Research Analyst, Arms Control Association): The conclusion that the IAEA has come to, and where the evidence has pointed, is that this was a reactor whose intention was to produce plutonium, full stop.

SHUSTER: The IAEA would also like access to three other locations in Syria, which it believes are connected in some way to the destroyed reactor. But Syria has not permitted that, as well.

So now the agency and its 35-nation board of governors has to decide what to do. The likelihood is that later this week, the U.S., Britain and other states will put forward a resolution that says Syria is not in compliance with its obligations to the agency, says Leonard Spector, of the Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Washington.

Mr. LEONARD SPECTOR (Deputy Director, Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies): I have a feeling the non-compliance vote may very well be successful. And that will start a process of some kind of very explicit international condemnation of Syria and further demands for, you know, investigations.

SHUSTER: A resolution of non-compliance would send the issue to the U.N. Security Council, which could consider slapping Syria with economic sanctions.

This is happening just as Syria is coming under intense pressure to stop the violence it has used to suppress widespread domestic protests. Tactically, says Spector, any IAEA action against Syria will inevitably increase the political pressure on the Assad government in Damascus.

Mr. SPECTOR: Part of what may be happening here is that there is an orchestrated effort to bring added pressure on Syria, from whatever means may be available.

SHUSTER: Analysts say the pressure is also on the IAEA to take some action now. Taking none would send a strong signal of weakness, they say, that the IAEA cannot afford.

Mike Shuster, NPR News.

MONTAGNE: And there was more news from Syria's border. Protesters massed Sunday at the border along the Golan Heights. They were marking the anniversary of the 1967 war when Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria. Israeli forces opened fire on the protesters when they tried to cross the border. Syrian state television said 23 people were killed. Israeli officials accused Syria of exaggerating the number to distract from its own crackdown on Syrian protesters.

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