The Syria Question: Blair rejects an invasion

Tony Blair insisted yesterday that Britain and America had no intention of extending their war in Iraq by taking military action against Syria.

The Prime Minister revealed in the Commons that he had secured a promise from President Bashar al-Assad of Syria in a telephone call at the weekend that his country would not harbour former members of Saddam Hussein's regime. Mr Blair said they would be "interdicted" at the border.

Mr Blair also sought to calm fears that Syria might be developing chemical weapons with the help of Iraqi scientists. He said: "It is important that Syria does not harbour people from Saddam's regime or allow any transfer of materials from Iraq to Syria. I have spoken to President Assad and he has assured me that that is not happening and I have said to him that it is important that he makes sure that that assurance is valid."

If any members of the Iraqi regime had reached Syria, they should be handed back to Allied forces, he said. He added that President Assad "does not believe there are any such people in Syria".

Mr Blair said Britain wanted "dialogue and partnership" with Syria in a statement that struck a more conciliatory tone than that coming from Washington, which is threatening diplomatic and military sanctions against Damascus.

Britain has continued to build bridges with Syria despite the rebuff suffered by Mr Blair in Damascus in 2001, when President Assad used a joint press conference to launch a tirade against "state terrorism" by Israel. During a visit to Britain in December last year, President Assad rejected a call by Mr Blair to shut down Palestinian terrorist organisations in his country.

The Prime Minister was pressed by Labour MPs on whether America and Britain would take military action against Syria. Mr Blair said: "I have the advantage of talking to the American President on a regular basis and I can assure you that there are no plans to invade Syria."

Mr Blair announced a faster-than-expected plan to restore the government of Iraq to the Iraqi people. He said a broad-based Iraqi Interim Authority should be set up a few weeks after the conflict, taking over from Allied forces and the Office for Reconstruction and Humanitarian Aid headed by Jay Garner, a retired US general. The interim authority would progressively assume more of the functions of government, he said. He hoped that elections to set up a fully representative Iraqi government would take place about a year after the start of the interim authority.

Mr Blair used the word "victory" for the first time since the war began, while insisting that the conflict was not over.

He told MPs: "We are near the end of the conflict. But the challenge of the peace is now beginning. We took the decision that to leave Iraq in its brutalised state under Saddam was wrong. Now there is upon us a heavy responsibility to make the peace worth the war. We shall do so not in any spirit of elation, still less of triumphalism, but with a fixed and steady resolve that the cause was just, the victory right and the future for us to make in a way that will stand the judgement of history."

The Prime Minister said there would be "intense diplomacy" over the next few weeks to rebuild the international relationships made "fragile" by the war. He will hold talks with Gerhard Schröder, the German Chancellor, in Hanover today on the way to a European Union summit in Athens tomorrow. In a jibe at France, which wants the EU to become a rival power base to America, Mr Blair said: "I am more convinced than ever before that partnership, not rivalry, is the best basis for future US-EU relations."

Mr Blair said he remained committed to the United Nations, and argued that the surest way to make it more effective was to unify the nationals that lead it.

Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary, said the military campaign in Iraq would not be "any less successful" if Saddam Hussein was not captured, adding that the war would not be over until the "final pockets of resistance" had been dealt with.

Sir Andrew Green, UK ambassador to Damascus from 1991-94, said Syria probably did have chemical weapons, but only as a deterrent to a possible attack by Israel. He told Channel 4 News: "There is no way in which they would fire first at Israel for the very obvious reason that the Israelis would use nuclear weapons."