IAEA Syria probe off to "good start": top inspector

VIENNA (Reuters) - A U.N. nuclear watchdog probe into a suspected secret nuclear reactor in Syria is off to "a good start" and inspectors were generally satisfied with Damascus's cooperation, their leader said on Wednesday.

Olli Heinonen, speaking to reporters on his return to Vienna after four days in Syria, said his team was able to take test samples "of quite a lot of things" at the remote desert site where Washington said Damascus had a nascent reactor before it was destroyed in an Israeli air strike last September.

"To a great extent, we achieved what we wanted ... and agreed to do ... on this first trip," he said.

It was too early to draw conclusions about what Israel bombed, Heinonen said, but "it's been a good start". Syria says it was only an ordinary military building.