VIENNA, Austria - A mission to the Syrian desert by UN nuclear sleuths to examine a building flattened by Israeli war planes could open a new front in the search for rogue nations trying to develop atomic arms under the radar of the international community.
It's a low-key endeavour: Only four International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors will participate in the three-day project starting Sunday.
Both Damascus and the UN agency have pulled down the blinds on news media seeking to report on the trip, keeping all details secret.
The stakes are huge for both Damascus, which denies working on a secret nuclear program, and the International Atomic Energy Agency -- and through it, the United States and its other 34 board member nations.
Washington hopes that the UN agency team will come back with persuasive evidence backing U.S. intelligence that the structure hit by the Israel in September was a nearly completed plutonium-producing reactor.
If so, the trip could mark the start of massive atomic agency investigation similar to the probe Iran has been subjected to over the past five years.
What's more, the probe could draw in countries like North Korea, which Washington says helped Damascus and Iran, which media reports have also linked to Syria's nuclear strivings.
Such prospects alarm Syria.
It agreed to allow the nuclear inspectors to visit the bombed Al Kibar site in early June only after months of delay.
It has already said that three other locations suspected of possibly harbouring other secret nuclear activities are off limits.
Syrian President Bashar Assad re-emphasized that point earlier this month, saying visits to sites other than Al Kibar are "not within the purview of the agreement'' with the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Such comments reflect the team's dilemma: The agency has little formal inspection rights in Syria, which has only a rudimentary declared nuclear program revolving around research and the production of isotopes for medical and agricultural uses, using a small, 27-kilowatt reactor.
Before the trip, IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei urged Syria to show "transparency,'' a call echoed by the U.S.
"Syria was caught withholding information from the IAEA,'' Gregory L. Schulte, the chief U.S. delegate to the IAEA, told The Associated Press.
"Now, Syria must disclose the truth about Al Kibar and allow IAEA's inspectors to verify that there are no other undisclosed activities.''
Such calls may fall on deaf ears, however -- with the absence of binding agreements with Syria giving the agency broad authority to follow up on nuclear suspicions, the inspectors will have access only to information that the Syrians agree to.
While Damascus has agreed to let the inspectors visit the Al Kibar site, it's unclear what they'll be able to do once they get there.
With the agency having little leverage, their success will depend on what they're allowed to see and do.
"The main thing you need to do is to get Syria to co-operate,'' said former IAEA nuclear inspector David Albright.
"Will the Syrians tell the truth, or will they lie and stonewall?''
