Source: Alalam.ir, 26-06-2008

VIENNA, June 26--International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors have praised Syria for cooperation in a probe into an alleged nuclear site, saying the investigation is off to "a good start".

After four days in Syria on his return to Vienna, IAEA deputy director general Olli Heinonen told reporters Wednesday that inspectors were able to take extensive test samples at the site.

UN nuclear officials inspected the remote edifice in the Syrian desert claimed to be a nuclear site before being bombed by ‘Israeli' planes last September.

The US claims the site was built by North Korean know how. Damascus categorically denies the accusation and accuses Washington of spreading disinformation.

However, Heinonen said it was "too early" to draw conclusions about the nature of the site, which Syria says "was an ordinary military building."

Heinonen said his team gathered environmental samples of "quite a lot of things" in search of traces of material that might point to what Washington said was a nascent, plutonium-making reactor before it was flattened.

The IAEA deputy who is in charge of non-proliferation inspections worldwide said he was generally satisfied with Syrian cooperation so far, adding: "To a great extent, we achieved what we wanted ... and agreed to do ... on this first trip."

The IAEA dispatched Heinonen's team after receiving US photos of the al-Kibar site that prompted the UN watchdog to put Syria on its nuclear proliferation watch list in April.

Heinonen said no follow-up visit was yet slated. But diplomats close to the agency had said it would have to do further detective work in Syria to get to the bottom of the issue.