22:43
Tieng Anh Vui
Protracted difficulties following the invasion of Iraq made the UK "hesitant" to intervene in Syria, former Prime Minister Tony Blair has said.
In a BBC interview, Mr Blair played down the influence of the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq on the UK Parliament's decision to block military action in Syria.
Iraq had shown that interventions can be "very difficult", he conceded.
But Syria, left unchecked, could become a potent source of extremists, he said.
Without foreign intervention, he warned: "You will have an Assad-dominated state, and that means in this instance an Iran-dominated state, probably around the borders of Lebanon and controlling most of the wealth of Syria.
"And then you'll have a larger geographical hinterland to the east that will be controlled by various Sunni groups, most of whom are likely in these circumstances to be extreme, and you could have a breeding ground for extremism actually much worse and much more potent than Afghanistan."
There was no question that chemical weapons had been used in Syria, he suggested, so UK MPs had not voted against intervention because they did not trust the government's assessment of the threat Syria poses.
'Rush to war'
Rather, he argued: "It is an issue to do with the difficulty we encounter afterwards, and that is a really really important lesson.
"The truth is, the reason why Iraq makes us hesitant is because Iraq showed that when you intervene in the circumstances, where you have this radical Islamist issue, both on the Shia side and the Sunni side, you are going to face a very difficult, tough conflict."
There is a "fundamental battle about religion and politics within Islam", he continued, which "has vast consequences for our future security".
The UK and the US should support "the majority of people in the Muslim world in fact want religion in a sensible place in politics, not trying to dominate politics", he said.
In a Commons vote last week, MPs rejected UK involvement in military action against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government.
PM David Cameron had advocated limited military strikes to deter further "large-scale use of chemical weapons". But he said he would respect the defeat of a government motion by 285 votes to 272.
Opposition leader Ed Miliband had cautioned against a "rush to war on an ill-thought through basis, not working with the international community, not going through the UN".
He added: "We must learn the lessons of Iraq about any action we take."
Former Lib Dem leader Lord Ashdown said: "People invented all sorts of reasons not to get involved with an international coalition led by a Democrat president of the United States to stand up for international law.
"I think it diminishes our country hugely."
What Syria means for Britain will be broadcast on Monday evening at 20:00 on BBC Radio 4.
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