Netanyahu seems to confirm Israeli incursion into Syria

Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu appears to have provided the first official confirmation of an Israeli incursion into Syria two weeks ago, reportedly angering aides to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Israel’s decision to bomb a target that U.S. and Israeli officials suspect is a nuclear site came after Israel shared intelligence with President Bush this summer indicating that North Korean nuclear personnel were in Syria, U.S. government sources told the Washington Post in a story published today.

Netanyahu, a lawmaker and former prime minister, did not provide details of the Israeli incursion.

But he told Israeli television Wednesday night: “I was privy to the matter from the outset and I gave my backing.”

Syria charged Sept. 6 that Israel had violated its airspace and dropped munitions. Officials close to Syria’s leadership have speculated that the incursion was designed to test air defenses for a possible Israeli attack on Iran that would require crossing Syrian airspace.

Officials in Israel have been tight-lipped and imposed strict censorship on Israeli journalists.

Bush was asked about Netanyahu’s comments Thursday and repeatedly said, “I’m not going to comment on the matter.”

Although the Bush administration was deeply troubled by the Israeli assertion that North Korea was assisting Syrian nuclear ambitions, sources said, the White House opted against an immediate response because of concerns it would undermine negotiations aimed at persuading North Korea to abandon its nuclear program.

Ultimately, however, the United States is believed to have provided Israel with some corroboration of the original intelligence before Israel proceeded with the raid, sources said.

The target was said to be in northern Syria, near the Turkish border. Syrian authorities said there were no casualties.

U.S. sources would only discuss the Israeli intelligence, which included satellite imagery, on condition of anonymity, and many details about the North Korean-Syrian connection remain unknown. The quality of the Israeli intelligence, the extent of any North Korean assistance and the seriousness of the alleged Syrian effort are uncertain, raising the possibility that North Korea was merely unloading items it no longer needed.

Syria has actively pursued chemical weapons in the past, but not nuclear arms -- leaving some proliferation experts skeptical of the intelligence that prompted the Israeli attack.

Syria and North Korea this week both denied they were cooperating on a nuclear program.

The Post, citing an unnamed expert, reported last week that the airstrike appeared linked to the arrival three days earlier of a ship delivery from North Korea marked as cement. Israeli sources have suggested that the vessel carried nuclear equipment, others have asserted that it contained only missile parts, and some have said the ship’s arrival and the attack are coincidental.