Israeli Airstrike Hit Military Site, Syria Confirms

Syria's president, Bashar al-Assad, yesterday claimed the target hit by an Israeli airstrike last month was a military building under construction, but denied it had anything to do with a nuclear program.

President Assad said he could not understand the motives for the mysterious September 6 air strike on Syria, which the Israeli government has refused to discuss. There has been speculation, in Israel and Washington, that the target was nuclear technology from North Korea.

"We found the building construction was related to the military but it's not used," he said, according to a BBC transcript. "It's under construction so there's no people in it, there's no army, there's nothing in it and we do not know the reason, it wasn't clear."

Asked about the rumors of a nuclear project set up with North Korea, he replied: "We have a relation with North Korea and this is not something in secret ... We are not interested in any nuclear activity."

He said the targeted building site did not have "any protection, any air defense" and that after the attack "there's no radiations, no emergency plans". However, Mr Assad did not say what the building was intended for, nor was he directly asked.

He played down, but did not exclude, the possibility of a military response. "Retaliation doesn't mean missile for missile and bomb for bomb. We have our means to retaliate, maybe politically, maybe in other ways," he said.

President Assad also said Syria would not attend a Middle East peace conference planned by the US next month, unless it explicitly dealt with the fate of territory captured by Israel from Syria in 1967.