September 18, 2007 (LPAC) --Both Syria and North Korea are criticizing the United States for spreading false claims of Syrian nuclear activities. A front page editorial in the Syrian government backed daily, Tishrin, also criticized Washington for not denouncing the Israeli September 6 incursions into Syrian airspace by Israeli war planes, reports Associated Press.

A North Korea government spokesman also denied today that it provided nuclear material to Syria saying "We never speak empty words. The above said story is nothing but a clumsy plot hatched by the dishonest forces who do not like to see any progress at the six-party talks and in the DPRK-US relations."

Andrew Semmel, acting deputy assistant secretary of state for nuclear nonproliferation claimed last week that North Koreans were in Syria, and that Syria may have had contacts with secret suppliers to obtain nuclear equipment. But, as LPAC reported earlier, Christopher Hill, the U.S. Envoy to the Six Party talks on North Korea, told reporters two days after Semmel's co-called pronouncement that every safeguard is being put into place to ensure that such developments cannot occur. The story of Syria's so-called secret nuclear program from North Korea first appeared in the U.S. press, just days after an Israeli violation of Syrian airspace, where Syria air defenses were deployed against the Israelis. While the Israeli government has been completely silent on the illegal intrusion into Syria—where Israeli ordinance was dropped—press reports claim that the Israelis were launching an attack on these [non-existent] nuclear sites.

Meanwhile in Israel, Zahava Gal-On, Israeli Knesset member of the pro peace Meretz Party told Attorney General Menachem Mazuz on Monday that he should demand that Israeli Prime Minister Erhard Olmert provide the Knesset with details of the September 5 Israeli overflights of Syria..

In a letter to Mazuz, Gal-On wrote, "In light of reports by foreign sources and the total blackout imposed by Israel on what happened or didn't happen, I am asking you to present the prime minister with his duty to report on all unusual IDF activity to the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee or to one of its subcommittees."