"I was surprised that they hadn't given the information to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)," Senator Diane Feinstein, a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said on CNN Sunday.

"And I was also surprised by the timing of it, because there have been some reports that Israel and Syria were looking at a settlement, quite possibly, and this could very well disrupt that settlement," she said, referring to a possible Israeli-Syrian political deal.

Feinstein said she did not doubt US intelligence briefers who said that the Syrian facility was nuclear weapons-oriented -- a charge denied by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

But she said the slow US disclosure was wrong.

"I think it should have gone immediately to the IAEA. That's why the IAEA is there. And by not sharing information immediately, what we do is destroy their verification potential as an independent, outside agency."

Peter Hoekstra, a Republican on the House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, said the data on Syria's nuclear facility presented by US intelligence officials was "compelling information."

Both he and Feinstein said they supported Israel's move to destroy the plant in an air attack on September 6, 2007 as it was nearing completion.

But, Hoekstra said, the two committees should have been briefed at least at that time.

"Because there are a lot of other questions that are out there, questions about how close was this to being operational? Who funded this for Syria? How close was the North Korean/Syrian cooperation in this? And where else might North Korea have been involved in proliferation?"

"And that's why ... if we would have gotten this information seven months ago to the full Intelligence Committee, we could have spent the last seven months going through and peeling back the onion and having a lot more information than what we have at this point."

Asked why the administration of US President George W. Bush only shared the intelligence this week, Feinstein said she did not know.

"I think they're sending some kind of a message, which candidly I don't understand, to North Korea, and I think they're also one way or another influencing an agreement with Syria and Israel. And to me, the timing is very suspect."

earlier related report
Syria says US reactor charges as fake as Iraq WMD claims
Syria said on Monday that US accusations it had been building a nuclear reactor until its destruction in an Israeli air raid last September were as bogus as American claims that Saddam Hussein's regime had weapons of mass destruction in 2003.

The ruling Baath party's mouthpiece daily compared the photographs of the bombed site shown to US congressmen last week to the images Washington presented to the UN Security Council as alleged evidence of Iraq's non-conventional arsenal in the run-up to the US-led invasion.

"When you look at these pictures... a single image comes to mind -- that of US Secretary of State Colin Powell accusing Iraq of hiding weapons of mass destruction and presenting as proof a dossier of photographs," Al-Baath said.

"Of course Mr Powell later acknowledged that he had been fooled by the US intelligence services and by conservatives within the administration.

"The new US campaign of lies should surprise nobody -- it's a continuation of the same policy of US pressure against Syria that's been going on" for the past five years, the paper added.

"Syria again rejects the US allegations and reaffirms that it has nothing to hide concerning its legitimate national defences. Syria wants to see peace in the region, unlike the current US administration which has been behind all its wars and crises."

US national security officials briefed US congressmen on Thursday, presenting intelligence they said showed Syria had been building a secret nuclear reactor for military ends.

They said the plant was being built with the help of North Korea, until its destruction by Israel in an air raid on September 6.

The International Atomic Energy Agency launched an investigation into the US accusations on Friday but also chided both Israel and the United States for their handling of the affair.

Syria roundly rejected the US allegations but promised full cooperation with the UN watchdog.

In an interview published by the Qatari daily Al-Watan on Sunday, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad ridiculed the US accusations.

"Does it make sense that we would build a nuclear facility in the desert and not protect it with anti-aircraft defences?" he asked. "A nuclear site exposed to (spy) satellites, in the heart of Syria and in an open space?

"We don't want a nuclear bomb... Where would we use it?... War in the region will effectively remain conventional," Assad said.

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