THE mysterious Israeli air raid on Syria last month targeted a partly constructed nuclear reactor, it was reported yesterday.

As The Sunday Times revealed exclusively last month, Israeli jets bombed a compound near Dayr az-Zwar in northern Syria on September 6 after commandos seized nuclear material of North Korean origin.

Citing American and foreign officials with access to intelligence material, The New York Times reports today that the Israeli jets destroyed a reactor apparently modelled on one in North Korea used for producing weapons-grade plutonium at its Yongbyon site.

Diplomats said a number of North Korean technicians were killed in the attack.

The newspaper said it was unclear how far advanced the Syrian nuclear facility was, although it quoted officials as saying that the reactor might have been years from completion.

The raid by Israeli F15Is on the suspected nuclear facility echoed an attack in 1981 on an Iraqi reactor at Osirak, thwarting Saddam Hussein in his ambition to develop the bomb.

However, evidence of Syrian intentions this time was much more ambiguous, with many American politicians doubting the urgency of any action against the Dayr az-Zwar plant. The New York Times account confirms splits about the issue within the administration of President George W Bush.

As The Sunday Times reported on September 23, Israel had been surveying the Syrian site for months and had tried to draw Washington’s attention to intelligence reports suggesting that the Syrians were collaborating with North Korea’s nuclear technicians.

US officials said the partially constructed Syrian reactor was identified earlier this year in satellite photographs, but implied that American intelligence had missed their significance until Israel pointed them out.

The pictures did not convince Washington, however. American opposition to Israeli plans to destroy the plant were led by Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state. She persuaded the Israelis to postpone their attack, originally scheduled during the week of July 14, until proof was obtained.

In a daring raid, Israeli commandos infiltrated the compound, seized nuclear samples and took them back to Israel for scientific analysis. The “jaw-dropping evidence” was presented to US officials and Ehud Barak, Israel’s defence minister, ordered the air strike.

The newspaper says it still remains unclear how far Syria had advanced with the plant before the attack, what role North Korea might have played and whether Damascus could argue that the facility was intended to produce electricity.

American officials say that, either way, Syria would have needed several years before the reactor could produce weapons grade nuclear material.

Analysts also disagree on whether the reactor was being built to enrich uranium - the Iranian route to nuclear power, or to reprocess spent fuel into plutonium, the avenue chosen by North Korea.

All Israel has confirmed so far is that it carried out an air strike on Syria. Both countries have given little information on the target and details of the raid have been under tight wraps in both Washington and Israel, restricted to a handful of officials. Israeli media have been barred from publishing information about it.

A senior Israeli official told the newspaper, however, that the attack was intended to “re-establish the credibility of our deterrent power”.

The newspaper reported that Dick Cheney, the US vice-president, and other hawkish members of the administration argued that the same intelligence that prompted Israel’s attack on the reactor had strengthened the case for reviewing negotiations with North Korea over its nuclear programme.

Cheney also wanted the administration to adopt a tougher stance against Syria.

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