Syria appears more inclined to cooperate

Eight months after Israel bombed a suspected nuclear reactor under construction in Syria, Damascus has agreed to allow U.N. inspectors to inspect the site as soon as next month. Apparently, the display of force has enabled the belligerant Arab country to feel more like cooperating with international efforts to control the spread of nuclear technology. International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors already plan to visit Syria on June 22-24 and want to inspect the site, as well as two or three others, at that time. Syria has not specifically agreed to allow the visit to the bombing site in June, but is expected to, according to unnamed sources cited by the Associated Press. But Syria has not agreed to allow IAEA experts to visit at least two other locations suspected of containing undeclared nuclear facilities. If Syria was building a nuclear reactor for a nuclear weapons program, it also would need plutonium reprocessing capabilities at other locations. Israel bombed the suspected reactor site in September after Damascus refused to respond to queries from the IAEA about the site.