Reuters - October 31, 2006
 
 DAMASCUS:
 
A senior adviser to Prime Minister Tony Blair has met President Bashar al-Assad on an unannounced visit to Syria, marking a change in British policy toward Damascus, diplomats and Syrian officials said.
 
Blair`s foreign policy chief, Nigel Scheinwald, the highest-ranking British official to visit Damascus in years, had separate talks with Assad and with Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem on Monday, they said.
 
"Scheinwald left Damascus this morning," a Syrian official said, declining to say what had been discussed. "There is no denying that his has been a significant visit, proving that a Syrian role is key to Middle East stability."
 
In London, a Blair spokesman confirmed the visit but sought to play down its significance. "The prime minister has always made it clear that Syria has a choice - to play a constructive role in the international community or continue to support terrorism," he said.
 
The pan-Arab daily newspaper Al Hayat, which first reported the visit, said Scheinwald probably had discussed the crisis in the Palestinian territories, rising violence in Iraq and how to stabilize the Middle East.
 
Britain, along with France and other European countries, reduced contacts with Syria to a minimum after the assassination last year of Rafik Hariri, a former prime minister of Lebanon.
 
A UN investigation found that the assassination could not have been carried out without knowledge of Syrian security officials. Syria denies involvement.
 
The isolation of the Baathist government, however, has eased since Israel invaded southern Lebanon in July in response to the capture of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah, which Syria backs.
 
Syria also is host to members of the Palestinian movement Hamas.
 
A delegation from the European Parliament said on a visit to Syria last month that Damascus was a key regional player that should not be ignored.
 
Senior officials from Spain, Italy and Germany have been in contact after boycotting Damascus for almost two years, although France has maintained its distance.
 
Blair survives another test
 
Prime Minister Tony Blair narrowly avoided a damaging defeat in Parliament on Tuesday as lawmakers rejected a proposal for an immediate inquiry into the role of coalition troops in Iraq, The Associated Press reported from London.
 
Following their first major debate on the military action since 2003, lawmakers voted 298 to 273 against a motion put forward by Welsh and Scottish nationalists, who had demanded a swift examination of the deteriorating security situation in Iraq.
 
Their proposal, defeated with a government majority of 25, had called for British lawmakers to hold an examination of policy in Iraq similar to the review in the United States being led by former Secretary of State James Baker.
 
Defeat would have been a major blow to Blair, who was forced by a rebellion in his governing Labour Party to announce in September that he would resign within a year. His decision to go to war in Iraq and his close alliance with President George W. Bush are the reasons for much of the Labour faithful`s anger at him.
 
But only 12 of Labour`s 352 lawmakers voted against the government, a relatively small rebellion compared with others the prime minister has suffered.
 
In a second vote, legislators backed a government motion 294 to 264 saying a new inquiry would divert resources from the effort to boost security in Iraq.
 
Britain`s main opposition, the Conservative Party, which had hoped to propose holding an inquiry once troops are withdrawn, pledged to hold another debate on the issue next month.
 
Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said no decision on holding an inquiry should be held while Britain`s 7,000 troops remained in Iraq.