In welcoming Syria's President Bashar Assad to Downing Street yesterday, Tony Blair sent some important signals about his view of Britain's role in the world.

One message appeared addressed to the Bush administration. It concerns the desirability of talking to, rather than confronting or needlessly antagonizing, governments whose policies and perspectives do not mesh neatly with the U.S. (or British) global outlook. Syria, along with Libya and Sudan, belongs to Washington's second tier of "states of concern", the first tier being Iraq, Iran and North Korea. This classification arises in part from Damascus's weapons programs and its unabashed support for violent Palestinian rejectionist groups. By stressing Britain's "process of engagement" with Syria as the best way to meet these concerns, Mr. Blair sent a reminder that such diplomacy-based approaches remain Britain's preferred option in dealing with other problematic regimes. The prime minister has Robin Cook, displaced as foreign secretary last year, to thank for developing this policy. But he did well yesterday to reassert it.

Mr. Blair also sent a tacit message to the Israeli government of Ariel Sharon, which had voiced its displeasure at the Assad visit in advance, and to Mr. Sharon's apologists in Britain. Unlike Mr. Sharon's chief ally, George Bush, Mr. Blair understands the need to mount a genuine, speedy and balanced effort to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict if a wider Middle East settlement is ever to be secured. Unlike Mr. Bush, he does not shy away from the links between the issue of Iraq, anti-western terrorism and repression in the Occupied Territories. The Assad talks, Mr. Blair's expected meeting with the Israeli opposition leader, Amram Mitzna, and next month's government-sponsored Palestinian reform conference are part of a pattern. They are earnests of the prime minister's evident belief that, notwithstanding the circuitous, endlessly discussed U.S. peace "road map", Britain has a constructive role to play and should pursue it, preferably with Mr. Sharon's and Mr. Bush's active support, but if necessary without it.

The Guardian, London