The United Nations has uncovered evidence that Syria may be trying to develop nuclear weapons.

U.N. investigators say a building in northwest Syria closely matches the design of a uranium enrichment plant the late Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi tried to build under the guidance of A.Q. Kahn.

Khan is considered the father of Pakistan's atomic bomb.
    
The U.N. has obtained correspondence between Khan and a Syrian official. They say the official proposed a visit to Khan's lab after Pakistan's successful nuclear test in 1998.

"A nuclear weapon would give Syria at least a kind of parity with Israel and some status within the region," said Anthony Cordesman, a national security analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
     
Syria has repeatedly denied pursuing nuclear weapons.