(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-04-25 21:11

DAMASCUS - Syria has denounced "the fabrication and forging of facts" of the US administration over the existence of nuclear activities in the Arab country, the official SANA news agency reported on Friday.

This undated image released by the US Government shows a building under construction in Syria. [Agencies]

"Syria categorically rejects the US allegations," the report quoted an official Syrian foreign ministry source as saying in a statement.

"Such a US administration campaign is fundamentally aimed at deluding the US Congress and the world public opinion by allegations to give an excuse for the Israeli raid on Syria in September last year," said the statement.

According to Syria, its air defenses on September 6, 2007 opened fire at Israeli warplanes which entered its airspace at dawn and forced them to leave.

In response, Israel said they were unaware of any such incident. The Bush administration also declined to comment on Syria's allegations at the time.

Syria accused in the statement that the United States might have helped the raid, saying "this administration, as it seemed, was a party in carrying out the raid."

"It is clear that such a move by the US administration comes in the framework of the negotiations connected with the DPRK nuclear file," added the statement.

"Syria demands the United States to act with responsibility and to stop fabricating more crises in the Middle East which has been already suffering from the repercussions of the failure of its policies in the region," the statement said.

Washington has accused Syria of building a secret nuclear reactor with the help of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), calling the DPRK's assistance to Syria's secret nuclear program "a dangerous and potentially destabilizing development for the world."

"We are convinced, based on a variety of information, that North Korea assisted Syria's covert nuclear activities," said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said in a statement on Thursday.