LONDON: Israeli President Shimon Peres said Tuesday that making peace with Syria depends on whether Damascus is prepared to rein in Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Peres said in a BBC radio interview that Syria cannot expect Israel to withdraw from the Golan Heights while Iran furthers its influence in Lebanon with the help of Syria. Israel is not prepared to tolerate an Iranian presence on its border, Peres said.

Peres was apparently referring to Hezbollah, the Iranian-and Syrian-backed Shiite Muslim militant group which fought Israeli forces in the 2006 war. Israel has accused Hezbollah of doing the bidding of Syria and Iran, both longtime foes of the Jewish state. Pro-Syrian radical Palestinian factions also maintain several bases in Lebanon.

"If Syria will understand that they can't have the Golan Heights and keep Lebanon as a base for the Iranians, then the decision will be clear. But if she wants the Golan Heights back and keeps her bases in Lebanon — which are really controlled and financed by the Iranians — no Israeli will agree to have Iranians on our borders."

Syria has held indirect talks with Israel through Turkish mediation in recent months. Syrian officials have in the past rejected Israeli demands that Damascus drop its support for Hezbollah in Lebanon and give up its alliance with Iran as part of a peace deal.

Syria has insisted on the full return of the Golan Heights, captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war. U.S.-sponsored direct peace talks with Israel collapsed in 2000 over the extent of Israeli withdrawal from the Golan.

Peres is in London through Friday for a series of engagements including talks with Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

His visit comes as Britain's foreign secretary is making the first visit by a senior British official to Damascus since 2001, urging Syria to promote stability in the Mideast.

David Miliband has said Syria has key regional responsibilities. Miliband told the BBC that Lebanon was among the issues on his agenda.

"Syria certainly has had some big questions to answer about the flow of foreign fighters into Iraq, about the situation in Lebanon, about its contribution to the stability of the region," Miliband said.

But he said there are signs Syria is seeking to change its actions.

"I think it is very important that we continue to engage with countries like Syria, which wants to be a secular state at the heart of a stable Middle East and try to explain how it can play a big role in fostering that sort of stability," Miliband said.

The United States has accused Syria of not doing enough to prevent anti-U.S. militants crossing its border into Iraq. U.S. commandos on Oct. 26 attacked a Syrian village near the border with Iraq. Syria said eight civilians were killed, but U.S. officials maintained a top al-Qaida in Iraq militant was targeted.