WASHINGTON, Jan 13: Hard liners in the Bush administration are considering plans to launch selected military strikes at militant training camps in Syria in an effort to bolster security for the upcoming elections in Iraq, the US media reported on Wednesday.

In an exclusive story based on information provided by US intelligence sources, UPI news agency reported that the plans also include striking border-crossing points militants use to enter Iraq.

Pressure for some form of military action is also coming from interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, the report said. Hard liners in the Bush administration, according to this report, regard Syria as the "No. 1 crossing point" for guerrillas entering Iraq, and blame Damascus for an increase in attacks on US forces.

Recently, Gen George W. Casey Jr., the top US commander in Iraq, said that senior Baath Party officials from Iraq are operating from Syria where they provide financing and direction to the cells of Iraqi insurgents killing Americans, sparking new discussions within the administration about possible measures against Syria.

"There are all sorts of discussions going on, the White House, the Pentagon, the Joint Chiefs," said former CIA counter terrorism chief, Vince Cannistraro. He felt the talk of strikes "is part of a general plan of intimidation."

Bush administration hard liners also claim that Damascus is home to associates of a top insurgency commander, Jordanian Abu Musab Zarqawi, who is responsible for many major suicide bombing attacks in Iraq.

The Bush administration has applied increasing pressure on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to halt the activities of militant groups inside Syria, and to arrest and extradite former Saddam Hussein officials who are the leading financiers.

Last week, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage visited Syria and later he told reporters he had delivered "a candid and blunt message" to the Syrian president. He gave no details of his message.

Experts on Syrian affairs in Washington say that what especially worries them now is the seeming weakness of President Assad to act against militant groups. They believe that President Assad does not want to antagonize Washington.

The experts also say that President Assad's inner circle of key advisers consists of reformists and young technocrats who also urge him not to confront the US. But the Syrian president is also surrounded by "the old guard" who want to continue the anti-US policies of the president's father.

The experts say that moderate Syrian advisers are often visited by hard line members of Syria's Mukhabarat, or secret police, who tell them to keep their mouths shut.

But Martha Kessler, a former Syria expert at CIA, also blames the United States for the troubles it is having with Syria. She says that Syria has tried, often in vain, to cooperate with the United States, only to be either snubbed or ignored.