Damascus - Syria's foreign minister said uranium traces found at an alleged nulcear facility by the United Nations nuclear watchdog may have been left by Israeli warplanes that attacked the site.

"No one has ever asked himself what kind of Israeli bombs had hit the site, and what they contained," the Syrian minister said, stating that Israel had bombs containing depleted uranium, such as used by the United States in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Walid al-Moallem described as politically motivated the news leaks about the traces found at the site which was bombed by Israel in September 2007.

"These media leaks are a clear signal that the purpose was to pressure Syria. This means that the subject is not technical, but rather political," said al-Moallem at a news conference with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari.

Western diplomats at earlier this week in Vienna confirmed that inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had found traces of uranium at suspect site.

The Vienna-based nuclear watchdog is finishing its first written report on Syria since the United States provided the IAEA with intelligence indicating Syria had almost completed a reactor, possibly with the help of North Korean experts.

Syria says that Israel bombed a conventional military site that was unrelated to any nuclear technology. (dpa)