The United Nations said an interpreter responsible for an erroneous report that Syria has a nuclear facility has been reprimanded and the organization has apologized to Syria's UN Mission.
Earlier this week, Syria denied that one of its representatives told the UN General Assembly's committee that deals with disarmament on Tuesday that "Israel" had attacked a Syrian nuclear facility. It said the representative was misquoted, demanded a correction, and insisted that such facilities do not exist in Syria.
After more than seven hours of investigation Wednesday, UN officials agreed the Syrian delegate was misquoted. "There was no use of the word nuclear," concluded UN associate spokesman Farhan Haq.
"Action will be taken against that freelance interpreter to the fullest extent of the UN rules and regulations," Haq said on Thursday, refusing to comment on what the action might be.
Haq also said an apology has been given to the Syrian Mission regarding the Tuesday interpretation error and accepted by them as an unintended mistake.