A MYSTERIOUS Israeli military strike on a suspected nuclear site in Syria last month was opposed by Condoleezza Rice, the American secretary of state, because she feared it would destabilise the region, according to a report this weekend.

Rice persuaded the Israelis to delay their operation, but not to call it off, after US officials were presented with “jaw-dropping” evidence of Syrian nuclear activity, the report said.

The Sunday Times revealed two weeks ago that Israeli commandos had seized samples of nuclear material, said to be of North Korean origin, during a daring raid on a Syrian military facility to prove to the Americans that an air attack was essential.

According to ABC News, Rice led the opposition inside the Bush administration to the Israeli strike, persuading them to shelve initial plans to hit the Syrian facility in the week of July 14.

The nuclear samples seized by ground commandos remain unidentified, but defence and intelligence sources in Washington believe they may have been connected to uranium enrichment.

Ilan Berman, a Middle East expert at the American Foreign Policy Council, said: “The consensus is that Israel struck a nuclear facility and the probability is that it was linked to enriching uranium.”

One report claimed the Syrian plant may have been intended to produce plutonium, but some experts doubt that, saying it would require the presence of a reactor.

The North Koreans have acknowledged producing plutonium at their plant at Yongbyon but have been evasive about a possible uranium enrichment programme, said to have begun with aid from a network overseen by Abdul Qadeer Khan, the so-called father of Pakistan’s nuclear bomb.

The US state department is sending a team of experts to North Korea on Tuesday to begin disabling the Yongbyon reactor, as agreed during six-nation talks last week. Sean McCor-mack, the State Department spokesman, said the reactor should be disabled by the end of the year.

President George W Bush said North Korea had committed “not to transfer nuclear materials, technology or know-how beyond its borders” and that it would make a complete declaration of all its nuclear programmes and proliferation activity. He authorised the release of $25m in aid to the North Koreans, covering the cost of nearly 50,000 tons of fuel.

Concern remains, however, over the existence of a possible secret North Korean uranium enrichment programme. Christopher Hill, the State Department’s chief negotiator, said it was important to have a “complete resolution” of the issue. “If it turns out they (the North Koreans) have a uranium enrichment facility, it will have to be disabled,” Hill said.

According to US intelligence, Syria is believed to have received centri-fuges for producing enriched uranium from the Khan network several years ago, prompting the CIA to report to Congress in 2004 that it viewed “Syrian nuclear intentions with growing concern”.

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