PRESIDENT ASSAD of Syria has delivered an impassioned and highly controversial defence of Palestinian militancy and suicide bombings, days before he is due in London for the first official visit to Britain by a Syrian leader.

In a wide-ranging interview with The Times — the first he has given to a British newspaper — Mr Assad also gave warning that an American-led war against Iraq would have catastrophic consequences, creating “fertile soil for terrorism” right across the Middle East.

He said Syria was supporting Washington’s War on Terror, not because it wanted to co-operate with America but because it, too, considered al-Qaeda an enemy. He was scathing about the Bush administration’s approach to the Middle East, and resisted US demands that Syria order the immediate closure of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad offices in Damascus.

Tony Blair is the staunchest supporter of Washington’s hardline policies towards Iraq, but it will be Mr Assad’s views on Palestinian militancy that cause the Prime Minister most discomfort.

This was the issue on which the two leaders clashed publicly during Mr Blair’s visit to Damascus last autumn, and Downing Street would be acutely embarrassed were a Damascus-linked suicide bomber to attack an Israeli target during Mr Assad’s return visit with his British-born wife. Mr Assad will meet Mr Blair at Downing Street on Monday, the Queen at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday, and attend the Lord Mayor’s dinner that night.

Mr Blair’s invitation to Mr Assad, who was a student in London, has angered Israel and British Jews, who plan to stage demonstrations in Whitehall to coincide with the Syrian President’s arrival for lunch in Downing Street.

In his interview, the President said that the current wave of Palestinian violence, which has seen nearly 700 Israelis killed in the past two years, was a “reaction to the terrorism practised by (Ariel) Sharon”.

Palestinians had no state, no dignity, and no army to defend themselves and were being killed in their hundreds. Young Palestinians were becoming suicide bombers from sheer frustration, not because Hamas or Islamic Jihad were encouraging them. “What do you say about a girl who is a second year at university. She does not wear a scarf and she does not belong to any organisation? So why did she go and do an operation?” He denied that either group was a terrorist organisation. They represented the views of millions of Palestinians, whose legitimate right to resistance was supported by 300 million Arabs and a billion Muslims. “It is impossible that . . . all of them are terrorists or support terrorism.”

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