Syria is reportedly building a secret nuclear facility with the help of Iran and North Korea.
According to German magazine Der Spiegel, the facility is located close to the Syria-Lebanon border and is believed to contain a nuclear reactor.
Der Spiegel said Iranian scientists had contributed to the construction of the site, and that "experts believe that the new nuclear facility could never have been built without North Korean know-how".
It added that Israel had been unaware of the facility’s existence.
The magazine cited western intelligence reports as the source for the information, claiming that it had obtained exclusive documents, satellite photos and phone calls intercepted by intelligence agencies.
It said that the Syrian regime had transferred to the new facility 8,000 fuel rods from its previous nuclear reactor in the north-eastern Deir Al-Zour region, which was destroyed in 2007 in what was alleged to be an Israeli air strike.
The publicaton also quoted an International Atomic Energy Agency report saying Syria "possesses up to 50 tonnes of natural uranium, enough material for three to five [nuclear] bombs once the enrichment procedure is completed."
But Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, denied that experts from his country were helping Syria build a reactor.
He described the allegations as "funny".
