Con Coughlin- 25/04/2008

Con Coughlin, (Daily Telegraph)

"While the Americans have explained the reasons for Israel's attack, they have been less forthcoming about why the Syrians were trying to acquire nuclear technology in the first place. Given Syria's geographical proximity to Israel, any attempt by Damascus to use nuclear weapons against its near neighbour would be counter-productive, as the fallout would inevitably affect large tracts of Syria.

But Syria's experimentation with nuclear proliferation has more to do with its strategic alliance with Tehran than any pretensions the Assad regime might entertain about becoming a nuclear superpower. In response to the West's increasing pressure on Iran over its uranium enrichment programme, Tehran has stepped up its military co-operation with Damascus, and has signed a mutual defence pact. That has resulted in the Iranians promising to provide the Syrians with their Shahab-3 ballistic missile system. Last summer, dozens of Iranian and Syrian missile technicians were reported to have been killed while attempting to mount a chemical warhead on a Scud missile at a Syrian military facility. 

Now, it appears that the Syrians are quietly helping the Iranians with their nuclear weapons programme. As part of their continuing efforts to acquire the technology to develop nuclear weapons, the Iranians have sent teams of their scientists to Pyongyang to examine the details of the North Koreans' successful nuclear test.

But with Western politicians getting more bellicose about Tehran's refusal to halt its uranium enrichment programme - earlier this week, Hillary Clinton threatened to "totally obliterate" Iran - the Iranians are keen that their mutual defence pact with Syria extends into the nuclear field. Western security experts believe that many North Korean scientists who were filmed working on the Syrian project were also frequent visitors to Iran's top-secret atomic facilities.

The US satellite photographs presented to Congress yesterday demonstrated that the Syrian facility had been entirely reduced to rubble by the accuracy of the Israeli air strikes. And unless there is a radical change of policy soon in Tehran, the likelihood is that the Iranian programme will suffer a similar fate."

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