- Title: SYRIA /QATAR: Syria's President Assad tells newspaper bombed site not nuclear
- Date: 28th April 2008
- Summary: ASSAD AND HIS WIFE ASMA WITH ORPHAN CHILDREN ASSAD AND WIFE BEING GIVEN PAINTED EASTER EGG
- Embargoed: 13th May 2008 13:00
- Keywords:
- Topics: Defence / Military
- Reuters ID: LVADURAK15Y7CY4GL5NDQ2WEU5UG
- Story Text: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad tells Qatar's al-Watan newspaper that a military site bombed by Israel was not a nuclear facility, before celebrating Easter with members of Syria's Christian community.
The Syrian site Israel bombed in September was not nuclear, but was a military facility under construction, President Bashar al-Assad said in remarks published on Sunday (April 27).
"Is it logical? A nuclear site did not have protection with surface to air defences? A nuclear site within the footprint of satellites in the middle of Syria in an open area in the desert?" Assad told Qatar's al-Watan newspaper in an interview on Sunday.
"The truth is that the raid was at a military site under construction," Assad said in the interview.
Last week Washington released intelligence alleging Syria built a nuclear reactor with North Korean help before an Israeli air strike destroyed the facility on Sept. 6.
Those allegations were dismissed by Syria's ambassador to the United States as "a fantasy".
Assad said he did not know why Israel, officially at war with Syria since the 1973 Middle East conflict, bombed the site.
"Why did they raid it, we do not know what data they had, but they know and they see through satellites; they have raided an incomplete site that did not have any personnel or anything."
"It was empty," he added.
Asked about Syria's response, Assad said: "Retaliation does not mean a missile for a missile, a bomb for a bomb or a bullet for a bullet...
They (Israelis) understand what we mean. We do not say that we will retaliate, i.e. we will bomb."
"You have to ask a different question; had Syria not been harming Israeli policy would Israel have carried out an operation of this sort? The truth is that we have the means to respond but in our own way."
"We understand that Israel wants to provoke Syria and possibly to drag Syria into war while we do not seek war. We have been clear about his point. We have other means and we do not necessarily have to declare them," Assad told the newspaper.
Assad refused to answer a question about reports that Syria was seeking to acquire Russian missiles.
"If there was a door open, even if it was small, for peace you should not seek war but you should seek to defend yourself. Now are you prepared or not, psychologically we are always ready and constantly prepare ourselves, but in terms of result, no one knows results until the battle itself."
Watan ran part of the interview on Thursday (April 24) in which he said Damascus was ready to negotiate with Israel through Turkey to "find common ground" for peace, but any direct talks must wait until a new U.S.
president is elected.
Assad's latest remarks were published as he and his wife Asma joined a group of orphans to celebrate Easter.
The children were living at St.Taqla convent in the historic city of Maaloula, 56 km to the northeast of Damascus. Christians represent about 10 percent of the Syrian population.
Assad took a two-hour tour of the monastery, and listened to a group of children singing for peace. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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