UN nuke watchdog could ask for special Syria check

The U.N. nuclear agency chief signaled a reluctance on Tuesday to demand Syria allow a short notice inspection of a desert site where secret nuclear work may have taken place despite growing international pressure.

It has been more than two years since Syria allowed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to inspect the Dair Alzour site, which was bombed to rubble by Israel in 2007.

Syria is a close ally of Iran, which already faces four rounds of U.N. nuclear sanctions, and the atomic activities of the Damascus government are the subject of growing international suspicion.