Israeli commandos prepared Syria strike: paper

LONDON (Reuters) - A British newspaper said on Sunday Israeli commandos seized North Korean nuclear material in Syria to help secure U.S. approval for an Israeli air strike that destroyed a suspect weapons plant on September 6.

The Sunday Times report, citing Israeli and U.S. sources, was the latest version of an incident shrouded by contradictory accounts from officials and diplomats and by Israeli military censorship of media operating in the country, including Reuters.

As with previous such reports in foreign media, Israel's own public broadcaster led bulletins with the Sunday Times account.

Elements of the story, which did not say when the commando raid took place, coincided with what political sources in the Middle East told Reuters on September 6 and subsequently -- that an air strike reported by Syria that day was linked to a covert Israeli ground raid and that this was linked to Israeli fears its neighbor was developing "weapons of mass destruction".

There are many other accounts, including Syria's which says its air defenses successfully repelled intruding Israeli jets.

A U.S. official source has told Reuters that the area where Syria said Israeli aircraft dropped bombs -- harmlessly in the desert by the Syrian statement -- was a focus of suspicions of secret cooperation on nuclear arms with North Korea.

However, diplomats close to the International Atomic Energy Agency have said they are unaware of such concerns. And some analysts also question the theory, noting in some cases, the failure to find secret weapons in Iraq after Washington had used their supposed existence to justify toppling Saddam Hussein.

The Sunday Times said that, in order to win U.S. President George W. Bush's support for the air raid in Syria's Deir az-Zor region in the early hours of September 6, Israeli commandos earlier had seized "nuclear-related" material. Tests later indicated it had originated in North Korea, the newspaper said.

North Korea, which is negotiating with Washington to end its nuclear program, has dismissed as a "conspiracy" accusations that it may have sent nuclear material or technology to Syria, with which it has said lately it has strengthening ties.

Damascus called reports of nuclear deals a "fabrication". Syria, a signatory to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, denies having illegal nuclear activities or nuclear links to North Korea.

ALLIANCE

The United States and Israel view Syria as part of a hostile alliance with Lebanese and Palestinian guerrillas and with Iran, whose nuclear program is strongly opposed by Israel and its allies, despite Tehran's assurances of its civilian purpose.

Jane's Defence Weekly said last week that a fatal blast at a Syrian military complex in July was caused not by hot weather, as Damascus said, but a malfunctioning Iranian chemical warhead.

The Israeli leadership has sought to defuse Syrian warnings about retaliation by suggesting talks. Syria has complained to the United Nations but taken no other public action so far.

The only official Israeli indication that a significant operation took place has been from opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu last week. By saying that he was consulted in advance and had congratulated Prime Minister Ehud Olmert afterwards, he indicated that the mission was both important and successful.

U.S. officials have also been quoted as saying Washington was consulted in advance.