US “Wants Syria-IAEA Confrontation”

A professor at Damascus university has claimed the United States wants to push Syria into a confrontation with the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA.



Ibrahim Daraghi, a political analyst and professor of law at Damascus University, made the claim in an opinion piece published in the pro-government newspaper Al-Watan on June 10.



Noting that IAEA inspectors had been invited in to probe the al-Kibar facility in northeastern Syria on June 22-24, Daraghi said the visit would dispel “false allegations” by the US and Israel that a nuclear reactor was being built at the site. Israel bombed the facility in September.



While Syria welcomed the mission, Daraghi reminded readers that Washington pushed hard for unconditional inspections of Iraq before invading the country. He accused the US of using the inspections to spy on Iraq ahead of the invasion.



Commenting on Syria’s decision to allow the inspectors only to look at the one facility despite US and UN demands to inspect other sites, the professor said al-Kibar was “where the Israeli raid occurred… it’s illogical to include any other place”.



Syria, which is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, had delayed the inspection for months. Daraghi insisted that the country had the right to refuse surprise inspections and claimed that the US was trying to force it into a confrontation with the UN nuclear watchdog.



He said that Syria would cooperate fully with the IAEA but warned it “will be careful to ensure the agency is not used once again as an instrument of dirty intelligence goals”.