Syrian President Bashar al-Assad denied in comments published on Sunday that a site attacked by Israel during September 2007 was a nuclear reactor under construction as charged by the United States. Last year's Israeli air strike "hit a military site under construction, not a nuclear site as Israel and America claimed," Assad told the Qatari daily Al-Watan in an interview conducted last week in Damascus.
"Does it make sense that we would build a nuclear facility in the desert and not protect it with anti-aircraft defences?" the Syrian leader asked. "A nuclear site exposed to (spy) satellites, in the heart of Syria and in an open space? "We don't want a nuclear bomb even if Iran acquires one," added Assad.
"Where would we use it?... War in the region will effectively remain conventional," he said.
Assad underlined that he believed Iran "does not think differently" on this issue.
The United States has accused Syria of building a secret atomic reactor with North Korean help.
