AFP

US commanders have said they will launch a "snatch-and-shoot" raid for Saddam Hussein if they track him to a hiding place in neighbouring Syria, The Times newspaper said today.

Although troops hunting for members of the toppled Iraqi regime have been ordered to respect Syria's borders, an exception would be made in the case of Saddam, said a senior US source at Central Command in Qatar, according to The Times.

If US special forces in western Iraq have "credible evidence" of the former president's whereabouts, they have been told that they can enter Syria and grab him, the newspaper said.

The action would be justified by US commanders under the doctrine of "hot pursuit", a disputed theory that soldiers hunting a terrorist suspect are allowed under international law to enter a foreign country without permission, the newspaper said.

"By the very nature (of international law) you should not go crossing international borders in an illegal manner," said a British military spokesman quoted by the newspaper.