Blair told the House of Commons -- the lower house of parliament -- that Britain and the United States had no plans to invade Syria despite US charges that senior Iraqi regime figures are taking refuge in Syria.

"I spoke with President Bashar al-Assad over the weekend and he assured me that they would interdict anybody who's crossing over the border from Iraq into Syria," Blair said.

"I believe they are doing that," he added.

Blair also said there were "no plans whatever to invade Syria."

He said the Iraq war that began on March 20 was still not over despite the fall of the northern city of Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's power base.

Blair said he wanted to "emphasize that the conflict in Iraq is not yet over" and warned of "tough times ahead, fighting still to do."

He said "foreign irregular forces" have been clashing with US troops in the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

US tanks and troops took control of Tikrit on Monday as coalition forces stepped up efforts to restore order and services.

Blair said: "Whatever the problems following Saddam's collapse -- and in the short term they are bound to be serious -- let no one be in any doubt, Iraq is a better place without Saddam."

"This was indeed liberation not conquest and the Iraqi people, given the chance, are every bit as much in favour of freedom as people anywhere in the world," Blair told MPs before they began a two-week Easter break.

He said that while predictions of widespread casualties had been proved wrong, "Nonetheless, innocent people died along with the guilty and it places upon us a special and profound responsibility for Iraq's future."

Blair said Iraq should have elections for a fully representative government about 12 months after an interim authority is put into place.

There would be "a fully representative Iraqi government once a new constitution has been approved and after elections which we hope will be about one year" after the interim authority starts work, Blair said.

SPACE.WIRE