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Israel Linked N. Korea, Syria

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By GLENN KESSLER and ROBIN WRIGHT, The Washington Post

Published: September 21, 2007

WASHINGTON - Israel's decision to attack Syria on Sept. 6, bombing a suspected nuclear site set up in apparent collaboration with North Korea, came after Israel shared intelligence with President Bush this summer indicating that North Korean nuclear personnel were in Syria, U.S. government sources said.

The Bush administration has not commented on the Israeli raid or the underlying intelligence. Although the administration was deeply troubled by the Israeli assertion that North Korea was assisting the nuclear ambitions of a country closely linked with Iran, sources said, the White House opted against an immediate response because of concerns it would undermine long-running negotiations aimed at persuading North Korea to abandon its nuclear program.

Ultimately, however, the United States is believed to have provided Israel with some corroboration of the original intelligence before Israel proceeded with the raid, which hit the Syrian facility in the dead of night to minimize possible casualties, the sources said.

The target of Israel's attack was said to be in northern Syria, near the Turkish border. A Middle East expert who interviewed one of the pilots involved said they operated under such strict operational security that the airmen flying air cover for the attack aircraft did not know details of the mission. The pilots who conducted the attack were briefed only after they were in the air, he said. Syrian authorities said there were no casualties.

U.S. sources would only discuss the Israeli intelligence, which included satellite imagery, on condition of anonymity, and many details about the North Korean-Syrian connection remain unknown. The quality of the Israeli intelligence, the extent of North Korean assistance and the seriousness of the Syrian effort are uncertain, raising the possibility that North Korea was merely unloading items it no longer needed. Syria has actively pursued chemical weapons in the past, but not nuclear arms - leaving some proliferation experts skeptical of the intelligence that prompted the Israeli attack.

Syria and North Korea this week both denied they were cooperating on a nuclear program. Bush refused to comment on Israel's attack Thursday, but he issued a blunt warning to North Korea that 'the exportation of information and/or materials' would affect negotiations under which North Korea would give up its nuclear programs in exchanges for energy aid and diplomatic recognition.

'To the extent that they are proliferating, we expect them to stop that proliferation, if they want the six-party talks to be successful,' he said, referring the negotiations that also include China, Japan, South Korea and Russia.

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