( Aljazeera ) - One theory suggests that N.Korea transferred nuclear equipment to Syria, which put them at a facility that Israel hit.
Nearly two weeks after Israeli warplanes violated Syria's airspace, the mystery surrounding the incident is growing.
In the absence of clarifications from Israeli or Syrian officials (who didn't say what was the Israelis' target), all sorts of scenarios have been reported by the media. The strongest theory suggests that the Israelis destroyed a North Korean nuclear facility near Syria's border with Turkey, where the incursion took place.
The story, strongly denied by Syria and North Korea, has been reported by unnamed U.S. officials and backed up by the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton. It suggests that North Korea, under international pressure to scale down its nuclear weapons program, has recently transferred equipment or technology to Syria, which put them at the research centre that the Israelis hit.
Reports that Syria was involved in a covert nuclear program with North Korea's assistance triggered fierce criticism in Syria and North Korea.
An editorial on Syria's state-run newspaper, Al-Thawra, described suggestion of such nuclear cooperation as a "flagrant lie." North Korea's minister to the country's UN mission in New York, Kim Myong Gil, also dismissed the allegations as "groundless."
U.S. experts on North Korea's nuclear program also played down the reports. Joseph Cirincione, director for nuclear policy at the Washington-based Center for American Progress, a liberal think-tank, described the whole story as "nonsense".
Selective leaks are being used to play up the Syria-North Korea connection, he wrote on the online site of the journal Foreign Policy. "This appears to be the work of a small group of officials leaking cherry-picked, unvetted 'intelligence' to key reporters in order to promote a pre-existing political agenda. If this sounds like the run-up to the war with Iraq, then it should," Cirincione wrote.
Gary Samore of the Council on Foreign Relations, another leading North Korea nuclear expert, was less dismissive, but equally sceptical.
"The North Koreans are looking to liquidate at least part of their enrichment programme, and perhaps want to offload the centrifuges and so on that they obtained from Pakistan... So the Syrians might be "dabbling" with enrichment technology, but this would not represent "a near-term threat", Samore stressed.
One thing Samore found strange, however, was the possible location of the "target" that the Israelis may have hit. This seems to have been very close to Syria's border with Turkey; a weird place for a potential nuclear research facility.
When asked about the alleged nuclear technology transfer between North Korea and Syria, the U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that Washington is keeping close watch on Syria and North Korea.
"If such an activity were taking place, it would be a matter of great concern because the president has put down a very strong marker with the North Koreans about further proliferation efforts. And obviously, any effort by the Syrians to pursue weapons of mass destruction would be a concern for us," Gates said.
North Korea agreed in a February accord to end its nuclear programs in return for political concessions and aid. It has shut down its Yongbyon nuclear facility and negotiators are now discussing the next phase of the agreement: disclosing and disabling all nuclear facilities, which Pyongyang recently agreed to do by the end of the year.
According to the BBC, much of the controversy surrounding the incident, given the fact that the Syrians and the Israelis have said very little (which is intrusive in itself), centres on the messengers who circulate that Syria-North Korea story. Critics suggest that some of these people are using the incident for political reasons to step up pressure against Damascus and hamper the Bush administration's negotiations with Pyongyang.
"The magnitude of these false accusations might be a prelude to a new aggression against Syria," according to Al-Thawra editorial.