U.N. nuclear inspectors in Syria

VIENNA, June 23 (UPI) -- Inspectors from the United Nations' nuclear watchdog agency arrived in Syria to investigate claims a plant destroyed by Israel was a nuclear reactor.

The International Atomic Energy Agency, based in Vienna, is treating the information it has received very seriously, the agency's director-general, Mohamed ElBaradei, said in a news release. ElBaradei said he was looking forward to Syria's full cooperation.

The team arrived in Middle East nation Sunday and is expected to work through Tuesday to determine the veracity of the information received. The United States provided agency officials with information that the reactor wasn't operational and no nuclear material had been introduced into it.

Israel bombed a facility in Syria in September.

Under its comprehensive safeguards agreements, Syria is required to report to the U.N. agency any planning and construction of any nuclear facility, the director-general said.