IAEA hits out at Israel over Syria attack

The head of the UN's atomic watchdog hits out again at Israel's willingness to take unilateral action against countries such as Syria.

The head of the United Nation's atomic watchdog again hit out at Israel's willingness to take unilateral action against countries such as Syria, in comments published in a magazine interview Monday.

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As well as the build-up of nuclear arms, the increasing penchant of countries to bomb suspected nuclear facilities also posed a growing threat to world peace, IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei told news magazine Der Spiegel. “With unilateral military actions, countries are undermining international agreements, and we are at a historic turning point,” said ElBaradei.

He was referring to the Israel bombardment of Syria's Al-Kibar complex last September.

“We only heard of the Israeli action from the television. No-one gave us any information or informed us of their suspicions,” he said. “We were only given access to pictures of the building and its destruction at the same time as the US Congress. That is unacceptable.” ElBaradei also slammed Israel and the United States for not passing on earlier intelligence that allegedly showed the Al-Kibar site was a covert nuclear reactor.