Posted on 09/17/2007 2:20:59 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
WASHINGTON — The United States has determined that Syria has been seeking nuclear weapons from North Korea.
"We do know that there are a number of foreign technicians that have been in Syria," Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Andrew Semmel said. "We do know that there may have been contact between Syria and some secret suppliers for nuclear equipment. Whether anything transpired remains to be seen."
One North Korean-flagged ship, Al Hamad, arrived in the Syrian port of Tartous on Sept. 3. Three days later, the Israel Air Force attacked an unspecified target in northeastern Syria along the Euphrates River near the border with Turkey.
(Excerpt) Read more at worldtribune.com ...
Um, I rather not.
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A North Korean ship that purportedly reflagged itself as South Korean to evade Western investigators has disappeared from view after the Israeli strike on Syria last week. The Al Hamed delivered what the Syrians classified as cement in the days before the strike, and an Israeli tracer says the ship has not been seen since:........................
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The Al Hamed does not make frequent trips to the Mediterranean. In fact, Solomon only found one other listing for its transit, and that occurred in June of this year. In both cases, it flagged itself as South Korean for its deliveries to Syria, even though the DPRK owned the ship until this summer.
Also, Iranian and North Korean engineers have been going back and forth between their two countries for missile tests. Now that’s been kept relatively quiet.
Monday, September 17, 2007
New Details (and Lingering Questions)
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Sunday's U.K. Times provided tantalizing details of Israel's recent airstrike against that Syrian nuclear facility.
Based on reporting from the Middle East and Washington, the Times story confirmed that Israeli warplanes targeted nuclear materials that were apparently shipped to Syria by North Korea. The article also verified claims that the recent strike was an air/ground operation, with Israeli commandos providing laser designation for F-15Is, which dropped precision weapons on their targets.
Sources also tell the Times that the raid destroyed storage bunkers at a supposed "agricultural" complex along the Euphrates River, near the Iraqi border. The facility apparently gained the attention of Israel's intelligence services, which ordered additional overhead coverage of the target in recent months. According to the Times (and the Washington Post), the raid appeared to coincide with the arrival of a North Korean ship at a Syrian port. The North Korea vessel docked only three days before the airstsrike, carrying a cargo listed was as cement, but was suspected of concealing nuclear equipment.
Will be interesting to follow and see if the nature of the nuclear material is missile warheads. Syria would do this at Iran’s urging, but why wasn’t Syria designated as part of the Axis of Evil from the beginning?
After the bombing, “remains to be seen.” More like an Obit Notice!
Because they're a junior partner ... always a junior partner ... whether it be of France, Russia, Egypt, Iraq, or (now) Iran.
ISrael should have destroyed the ship too.
N Korean Ship 'Linked To Israel's Strike On Syria'
The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 9-17-2007 | Tim Butcher
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Last week, US officials suggested that North Korea had sought to export some of its nuclear technology and equipment to Syria but the Israelis had been tipped off, so they arranged a pre-emptive strike on a sensitive shipment.
Mr Solomon said the Al Hamed was owned by a North Korean business until a few months ago when ownership changed hands to an as yet unidentified new owner.
Definitely not going to be the lead story on tonight’s ABC, CBS, NBC, or CNN News.
Records on N. Korean ship docked in Syria were altered
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Online databases tracking a ship reportedly flying a North Korean flag that docked in Syria have changed their records following a report in The Washington Post linking the alleged Israeli air strike in Syria to a North Korean shipment.
Ronen Solomon, who searches information in the public domain for companies, told Haaretz he found references to a ship called Al Hamad on three different Web sites after the initial reports of the Israeli raid in Syria on September 6. These included the official sites of Syria's Tartous Port and the Egyptian Transportation Ministry.
Two of the three sites said the ship was flying a North Korean flag, and the third site reported it was flying a South Korean flag.
|
Haaretz confirmed Solomon's report. |
Because Syria only matters because it is a proxy of Iran....Once Iran falls, Syria will cease to matter...as it can’t stand on its own (as any real threat).
Didn’t the IDF blowup a nuclear site in Syria last week?
Meanwhile, Congressional Liberals keep acting like appeasing morons. There is so much to use against the traitorous Liberals in the upcoming election if only the GOP had gonads.
The only thing congressional liberals crave more than the destruction of Issrael is the reduction of America to vassal status to (fill-in-the-blank)
_
Ok, tell me please... Where is Syria’s seaport???
I know it says: “tartous,” but just where is that???
Maybe that's why the Nork's howled so loudly over the Israeli action.
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