Exposed: Iran nukes take Damascus road

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Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Those worried about Iran's nuclear capabilities and intentions perhaps should be watching Syria more closely, as that nation may be acting as a covert channel for Iran's program, and it may be getting help from North Korea and elements of Paksitan's A.Q. Khan nuclear network, according to a report from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.

Syria also is being eyed as a storage area for North Korea's nuclear weapons development program as the government there tries to bypass requirements that its components are dismantled in order to qualify for increased U.S. economic aid.

Until now, security experts thought Syria was developing its own nuclear weapons program with North Korea's help.

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In fact, Israel in September 2007 launched an air raid on what was thought to be the beginning of construction of a nuclear reactor at al-Kibar in the northeast part of Syria to extract uranium from phosphates.

Israeli intelligence has suggested North Korean technicians were at the facility. In addition, the U.S. claims that it had intelligence and photographic evidence that the site was a nuclear facility built with North Korean help and due to become operational in the near future.

The bombing also was the subject of criticism by Mohamed El-Baradei, chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA. He said that the IAEA should have been notified of the attack and given information on the al-Kibar facility beforehand.

Syria, which like Iran is a member of the nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, denies that it has a covert nuclear weapons development program.

As a member of the NPT, a country such as Iran and Syria can develop a nuclear program so long as it is under IAEA supervision.

While Iran has allowed IAEA inspections over some facilities, it has barred IAEA from other sites. In turn, this refusal to visit all nuclear sites scattered around Iran has prompted concerns that Iran is embarked on a nuclear weapons development program.

Despite severe criticism, a recent U.S. National Intelligence Estimate claimed that Iran had halted such a program three years earlier. Yet, Israel as well as policymakers in Washington insist that Iran has not given up on such a program.

This has prompted fears that Iran's nuclear facilities could be subject to similar attacks in the near future.

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