"Members of the choir have started up a new song that is full of hostility, this time about Syrian-Korean nuclear cooperation," Ath-Thawra said. "This is a big lie... Syria is used to having to put up with such lies."

The Washington Post reported last Thursday that North Korea may be helping Syria build some kind of nuclear facility, citing unnamed intelligence sources.

Israel's secret service had relayed the information to the US government, which the Post described as "dramatic."

"This is nothing new, accusing Syria of things that it has nothing to do with... But what is new is the scope of the new lie and the way it is being peddled," said Ath-Thawra.

Syria has said its air defences fired on Israeli warplanes which dropped munitions deep inside its territory in the early hours of September 6, triggering intense media speculation about the action.

Israel has not confirmed the incident and kept up a policy of official silence, with the only details on the mysterious attack coming from foreign media reports citing anonymous officials.

"The United States and Israel need a file... after the recent violation of Syrian airspace by Israeli planes," Ath-Thawra said. "The latest accusation could be a prelude to more attacks on Syria."

Ath-Thawra said "the occupation of Iraq was based on this kind of accusation," referring to former dictator Saddam Hussein's alleged weapons of mass destruction which were never found after the US-led invasion of 2003.

All rights reserved. � 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.