Syria on Thursday "utterly" denied U.S. allegations that North Korea helped it construct a nuclear reactor.

"The government of the Syrian Arab Republic regrets and denounces the campaign of false allegations that the current United States administration continually launches against Syria claiming the presence of nuclear activity," the Syrian Embassy in the United States said in a statement.

Damascus "utterly denies these allegations," it said.

The denial came shortly after Washington said on the same day that North Korea's assistance to Syria's secret nuclear program is "a dangerous and potentially destabilizing development for the world."

"We are convinced, based on a variety of information, that North Korea assisted Syria's covert nuclear activities," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said in a statement.

Calling the U.S. allegations as "unfounded", the Syrian statement said this campaign aims primarily to misguide the U.S. Congress and international public opinion to justify an Israeli raid in September 2007, which Syria said the current U.S. administration may have helped executed.

Syria said on Sept. 6, 2007, its air defenses opened fire on Israeli warplanes that entered its airspace at dawn and forced them to leave.

In response, Israel said they were unaware of any such incident. The Bush administration also declined to comment on Syria's allegations at the time.

(Xinhua News Agency April 25, 2008)