PLANS for air strikes on Islamic State targets in Syria will help President Assad, a senior Hampshire MP is warning.

Julian Lewis, the newly-elected chairman of the Commons defence select committee, urged the Government to decide which it believed was the “lesser of two evils”.

Speaking in the Commons – as ministers promised MPs the final say before any bombing raids – Dr Lewis warned of the wider impact of military action.

The New Forest MP said: “In 2010 the Government wanted to remove Assad without helping al-Qaeda or similar groups that subsequently became Daesh [another name for Islamic State, or Isil].

“Now we apparently want to remove Daesh but without helping Assad. These two things are incompatible. It is a choice of evils. Which do you think is the lesser of those two evils?”

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon did not offer a direct reply, saying: “We must not give any succour to Assad. Nobody, I don’t think anyone, in this House, wants to see the Assad regime continue for a day longer than is necessary.

“We want Assad to go, but we are equally clear that Isil operations in Iraq and elsewhere and probably in Libya are being directed from northern Syria.”

Two years ago, Dr Lewis was among 30 Tory MPs who inflicted a humiliating defeat on David Cameron, by refusing to back air strikes in Syria.

On that occasion, he described it as a “suicidal policy”, telling the prime minister: “I cannot support a suicidal strategy by assisting Al Qaeda to get these chemical weapons.”

The Government does not need the backing of MPs to launch raids but Mr Fallon said they will have the final say.

Labour has indicated it would not block military action in Syria, as it did in 2013, potentially guaranteeing Mr Cameron a majority.

The Opposition agreed that terrorist attacks, such as Friday’s tourist murders in Tunisia, may have been planned by Isil in Syria – a point made by Mr Fallon.

Parliament approved UK bombing of militant positions in Iraq last year. However, MPs were not asked at the time to authorise strikes across the border in Syria.