Syria Media Cagey About Nuclear Visit

Syrian state media this week skirted the issue of the United Nations nuclear inspection by reprinting reports from foreign sources rather than generating their own material on the controversial visit.



Inspectors from the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, took samples at the al-Kibar site during their three-day visit this week to examine allegations by the United States that the site – destroyed by Israeli air strike in September 2007 – was being used to develop a secret nuclear reactor. Syria has denied the allegations.



Olli Heinonen, who led the UN team, said at a press conference after leaving Syria that the inspectors had made a “good start.”



The Syrian media covered the visit by quoting analysis from international news agencies.



The pro-government newspaper Al-Watan broke the official silence by publishing an article on June 23, the day after the inspectors arrived. The article, titled, "Is Washington going to accept the results of the IAEA inspectors in Syria?" consisted of excerpts from a commentary published by the Russian news agency RIA Novosti.



This article, by commentator Maria Appakova, reported Syrian claims that the Israeli planes hit an unused plot of land belonging to a farming development organisation, and expressed hope that the IAEA inspectors would verify this and identify any chemical traces as being for agricultural purposes.



The article predicted that the nuclear question in Syria would “turn into a long saga, as it did in Iran and North Korea”.



Quoted on the website of the pro-government television station Al-Dunia on June 22, Syrian vice-president Faruq al-Shara warned that the US would use the inspections to pressure Syria into accepting Israel’s terms in the ongoing peace negotiations.