Western countries are looking to pass a resolution against Syria over its alleged illicit nuclear activity at a meeting of the UN atomic watchdog next week.

The week-long session of the International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-member board of governors, starting Monday, has a heavy agenda, ranging from the upcoming two-year budget to the nuclear disaster in Japan.

But it will once again be the long-running investigations into illicit nuclear programmes in both Iran and Syria that will be the main focus of attention.

Last week, IAEA chief Yukiya Amano issued two new reports detailing the agency's progress in its investigations, which he said both Tehran and Damascus were actively blocking.

Iran was continuing to stockpile low-enriched uranium, in defiance of multiple UN sanctions, and refusing to answer allegations of possible military dimensions to its contested nuclear programme.

Syria, accused of building an undeclared atomic reactor at a remote desert site, has not allowed UN inspectors access to locations, data or individuals who could help clear up the allegations.

While Iran has tended to be the dominant issue at board meetings in the past, Syria looks set to take the hot seat this time round after IAEA chief Amano stated unequivocally for the first time his conviction that the desert site -- which was flattened by Israeli bombs in September 2007 -- was indeed "very likely" to have been a covert nuclear reactor as alleged.

The move was unprecedented and clearly aimed at turning up the heat on Syria which is increasingly frustrating the IAEA with its point-blank refusal to cooperate.

The United States, in particular, has seized on Amano's report -- the toughest ever on the matter -- as an opportunity to find Syria in "non-compliance" with its international obligations and refer it to the UN Security Council in New York.

A corresponding resolution, Washington believes, is "critical for preserving the credibility of the IAEA and the safeguards system," according to a letter sent to fellow IAEA member states last week.

Britain, too, believes the IAEA board of governors has no other option.

"What the director general has told us about is a case of Syria's non-compliance with its comprehensive safeguards agreement," the British envoy to the IAEA, Simon Smith, said.

"And we, and quite a number of other countries equally convinced as we are, will be arguing that -- as we are obliged to do by the statutes of the IAEA -- this non-compliance needs to be reported to the UN Security Council," Smith said.

Damascus has always insisted that the site, known as Dair Alzour, was a non-nuclear military installation but it has provided no evidence so far to back this up.

Aside from a one-off visit in June 2008, Syria has refused to allow IAEA inspectors access.

Western diplomats believe there is sufficient support on the 35-member board for the resolution to be passed, although it would be "naive" to expect it to be carried unanimously, a number of them said.

"I'm pretty confident from what we're hearing that we're in good shape for the board to make that decision," said another, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The big question is whether Russia and China will come on board, especially after Syria has since written to the IAEA pledging "full cooperation" -- a move seen by many in the West as nothing but a stalling tactic.

Officials from Syria and the IAEA met this week and Damascus has said it is ready to talk further after next week's board meeting.

But western diplomats said that would be insufficient to avert a resolution.

On Iran, the IAEA's latest report revealed that Amano has written to the head of the Islamic republic's atomic energy organisation, Fereydoun Abbasi, underlining concerns about possible military dimensions to Iran's atomic programme and calling for an urgent response to the allegations.

Iran responded at the end of last month, but diplomats who said they have seen the six-page reply said it contained nothing substantively new and, in the view of one diplomat, only confirmed that Tehran is "unwilling to change course from its policy of non-cooperation."

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