The International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors face a daunting task. Syrian officials are expected to place strict limits on where they go and what they see during their three-day visit.
Still, IAEA Deputy Director General Olli Heinonen spoke optimistically of the mission's chances before boarding the flight to Damascus on Sunday.
"I am sure I will be able to return" again to Syria, he told reporters, saying he and his two-man trip hoped to start to "establish the facts this evening."
Despite the low-key nature of the visit, the stakes are immense.
Damascus denies working on a secret nuclear program. But Washington hopes the U.N agency team will find evidence backing U.S. intelligence that a structure destroyed by Israeli war planes 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 five-year inquiry into Iran's activities. What's more, the investigation could draw in countries such as North Korea, which Washington says helped Damascus and Iran. Media reports also have linked Iran with Syria's nuclear efforts. More...
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