Israel to Turkey: Sorry, we might have invaded your airspace

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert apologized to Turkey on Sunday for possibly invading Turkish airspace. Mr. Olmert refrained from admitting that it was during a Sept. 6 air strike on a Syrian military site.

Israel has yet to officially admit it carried out the strike. Turkish authorities have complained that Israel dropped fuel tanks on the country during the operation.

“If Israeli planes indeed penetrated Turkish airspace, then it was without prior intent or any intent to infringe upon or undermine Turkish sovereignty, which we respect,” a statement from Olmert’s office cited him as telling the Cabinet. In a conversation with Turkey’s prime minister last week, Olmert “expressed Israel’s apologies to the Turkish government and the Turkish people for any harm that might have been caused,” the statement said.

IAEA chief criticizes Israel for strike on Syria

Mohamed ElBaradei, the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, criticized  Israel in a CNN interview for it’s Sept. 6 airstrike on a facility in Syria, saying that Israel’s pre-emptive strike “is very distressful because we have a system.  If countries have information that the country is working on a nuclear-related program, they should come to us.”

ElBaradei told CNN that the IAEA has not received any information about secret nuclear activity in Syria and that Israel’s strike will make it more difficult to investigate or resolve any suspicions.

Photos said to show Israeli strike site

U.S. security analysts say they believe they have satellite photos of the site in northeastern Syria which was the target of a Sept. 6 Israeli airstrike.

Both U.S. and international experts said the site is similar to that of a nuclear facility in North Korea. The photos depict a compound with a tall chamber that could possibly house a gas-graphite reactor.

Syria has consistently denied any rumors that it is developing nuclear technology, stating only that the site is an out-of-use military facility.

Syria meets with North Korean official

Admidst the speculation surrounding the Sept. 6 airstrike on a military facility in northeastern Syria, Syrians officials met with a North Korean official as planned.  Both countries say they are meeting to discuss ways of furthering the relationship between the two countries. Many countries suspect that North Korea may be assisting Syria in developing nuclear capabilities. North Korea has provided military technology to the country in the past.

UN Agency investigates satellite photos of Syrian site

UN experts admitted to the AP that they received satellite photos of the Syrian military facility that was attacked on Sept. 6, and are investigating the photos for signs that it is a nuclear facility.

The Washington Post on Friday cited anonymous American officials as saying the site in Syria’s eastern desert near the Euphrates River had characteristics of a small but substantial nuclear reactor similar to North Korea’s facility.

Other news outlets report another theory. The Raw Story reported other American officials as indicating that the target was not a nuclear facility as Israel claims, but a stockpile of North Korean missiles.