h/t DailyAlert. Via al-Reuters:

UN inspectors found graphite and more uranium traces in test samples taken from a Syrian site Washington says was a covert graphite nuclear reactor almost built before Israel bombed it, officials in Vienna said on Thursday.

One senior UN official said the discovery of additional uranium traces was “significant.”

The IAEA’s November report said the site bore features that would resemble those of an undeclared nuclear reactor.

The U.S. says the site was a reactor that was close to being built with North Korean assistance and designed to produce plutonium for atomic bombs.

Good move, Prez Obama.  So far, in just two weeks, you’re doing everything those of us on the right side predicted you would.  Via JihadWatch:

“The Obama administration has been more lax in its approach to countries which support terrorism.”

Syria has been listed by the State Department as among the State Sponsors of Terrorism since December 29, 1979.

“US Will Sell Syria Plane Parts” from Israel National News, February 8 (thanks to Pamela):

(IsraelNN.com) A Syrian paper reported Sunday that the U.S. Department of Commerce agreed to sell plane parts to Syria. The parts will be used to repair two Boeing 747s which are currently out of use in the country.Former U.S. President Bush had forbid U.S. commerce with Syria except for food and medicines. The Obama administration has been more lax in its approach to countries which support terrorism.

Covert marine operation uncovers Syria’s return to plutonium production

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report

December 5, 2008, 1:21 PM (GMT+02:00)

The Orontes River, Syria

In the face of Damascus’ refusal to allow UN inspectors access to three suspect “research laboratories, Western agents recently carried out a daring covert operation to collect water samples from the Orontes river in Syria where it drains into the Mediterranean, DEBKAfile‘s intelligence sources reveal. Their discoveries, presented to International Atomic Energy Agency’s board, confirmed that Syria had gone back to the plutonium project cut short at Al Kibar in September 2007.
More…

This week Samir Kuntar was honored by Syrian President Assad.  Kuntar is famous for crushing the skull of a 4 year-old Israeli girl. Via GateWay Pundit:

He was imprisoned by Israel in 1979 after he was convicted of one of the grisliest attacks in Israeli history – killing a man in front of his four-year-old daughter, and then killing the girl herself by crushing her skull.  Haaretz reported:

Syrian President Bashar Assad has awarded former Lebanese prisoner Samir Kuntar the country’s highest medal for spending nearly three decades in an Israeli jail.

The Syrian News Agency says Kuntar received the Syrian Order of Merit during a meeting with Assad in Damascus Monday.

Kuntar was the longest-held Lebanese prisoner in Israel. He was imprisoned in 1979 after he was convicted of one of the grisliest attacks in Israeli history – killing a man in front of his four-year-old daughter, and then killing the girl herself by crushing her skull. Kuntar and four Hezbollah guerrillas were freed in July in exchange for the bodies of Ehud Goldwasswer and Eldad Regev, two Israel Defense Forces soldiers captured by the militant Hezbollah group in 2006.

Kuntar the killer told Assad that the Syrian flag will soon fly over the Golan Heights.

Boy… I bet you just can’t wait for those unconditional talks with this brutal regime.

While the world community focuses on the US Presidential election, Russia makes bold plans to increase its naval presence in the Mediterranean Sea seeking to cultivate Syria as an ally.  Be forewarned. Once the new US president is elected, the world will return to its comfortable perch to again accuse Israel and feign sympathy for “thepoorpalestinianpeople”. Just watch and see. Via UPI/Space War:

Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in the Mediterranean is a significant show of force and a potential threat to America’s ally Israel.

The increased Russian naval presence in the region means that the Kremlin is seeking to cultivate Syria as a close regional ally as it looks to secure additional bases for the fleet.

In addition, Russia would be able to deploy electronic intelligence-gathering ships that could improve Syria’s ability to monitor NATO and Israeli transmissions.

The Russian layered air defenses, both short-range TOR and long-range S-300 anti-aircraft systems, are capable of providing the defensive envelope to Syrian nuclear research activities, as well as to the significant chemical weapons arsenal deliverable by Damascus’ short-range ballistic missiles.

Syria openly provides airfields and roads to supply the Hizbullah terror organization in Southern Lebanon, a group which openly declares that its purpose is to galvanize the Moslem world to invade and overthrow the state of Israel and to replace it with an Islamic state.

Syria openly provides a haven for the ten Palestinian Arab terror organizations that have sworn to destroy any peace process between Israel and its neighbors, including the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

Syria openly floods Israel with narcotics, as documented by Israel’s Drug Enforcement Authority.

Syria openly runs a school system that trains a new generation for war to liberate all of “Palestine” and Jerusalem from the Jews.

Syria openly runs a state-controlled media that communicates a daily message that compares Israel to a Nazi regime.

Syria openly rules the nation of Lebanon, since its invasion and takeover of the Lebanese regime in 1987.

The source of Israel and Lebanon’s problems are in the north all of which emanate from Damascus, the capital of Syria.