SYRIA CONFIRMS ISRAEL STRUCK NUKE FACILITY

Syria Confirms Target of Israeli Attack Was Nuclear Facility (Ha'aretz)
Israel Army Radio said Wednesday that Syria has confirmed that the target of an Israel Air Force raid last month was a nuclear facility. Israeli diplomats at a UN disarmament committee quoted an unnamed Syrian delegate as having told the panel that "The IDF attacked a nuclear facility and not an agricultural building for soils research, as had been stated thus far." Foreign Ministry Deputy Director General for Strategic Affairs Miriam Ziv attended the meeting. Syria later denied that its representatives to the UN had confirmed an Israei strike on a nuclear facility, adding that such facilities do not exist in Syria, the state-run news agency SANA said, quoting a foreign ministry source.

Syrian Official Says Israeli Airstrike Hit Nuke Facility (FOXNEWS)
A high-ranking Syrian official confirmed that Israel's airstrike last month in northern Syria hit a nuclear facility, according to a document obtained Wednesday by FOX News.

"Israel was the fourth-largest exporter of weapons of mass destruction and a violator of other nations' airspace, and it had taken action against nuclear facilities, including the 6 July attack in Syria," Syrian representative Bassam Darwish is quoted in the document as saying.

Diplomats familiar with the document cannot explain why July 6 was invoked, instead of Sept. 6, the date both countries say an incident occurred. A State Department source tells FOX News the best explanation is that Darwish misspoke.

The document, released by the General Assembly's Department of Public Information, recounted Tuesday's proceedings at the annual gathering of the U.N.'s Disarmament and International Security Committee.

What is clear is that this is the first time Syria has acknowledged its nuclear efforts.

Click here to view the document posted on the U.N. Web Site.

One U.S. delegate told colleagues he could not believe his ears when the Syrian diplomat made his statement and that the resulting document was close to verbatim, and another source told FOX News the document reinforces what people heard [the Syrian representative] say in the actual debate.

Syria already has disowned the remarks, adding "such facilities do not exist in Syria."