THE SNP will oppose an attack on Bashar al-Assad in “powder keg” Syria if Theresa May holds a rush vote this summer, Alex Salmond said last night.

Number 10 has not confirmed a Commons vote on the issue will be scheduled. However, the Daily Mirror yesterday reported a Whitehall source as saying the Prime Minister will look for support from MPs after the snap General Election to join US airstrikes against Assad if chemicals are used against rebels again.

A senior Conservative Party source denied the claim, saying: “The story is simply not true.”

But Salmond, a vehement critic of the Blair-and-Bush-led 2003 invasion of Iraq, said: “Day by day it is becoming evident that Theresa May intends to use this election to tighten her grip on parliament so that when it reconvenes she is able to brush aside opposition and march to the Trump tune.

“The report that she is already planning an airstrikes vote carries the ring of truth.

“The UK’s mini-me policy to the Trump administration follows on from her Foreign Secretary’s speculation last week of supporting US strikes even before parliament gets back. Trump’s leash on the UK Government tightens as they blindly follow.

“The UK is already playing an active role in a bombing campaign in Syria against Daesh and to simply try and look at the powder-keg conflict in Syria through a prism of yet another bombing campaign defies logic and ignores similar past mistakes, like in Libya.

“A strong SNP opposition will work to ensure that the UK is not dragged once again into military action without a plan or coherent strategy and without the rule of international law being respected – including seeking a full-scale UN-led investigation into Syrian-regime chemical attacks, rather than signing up for unilateral military action.”

The comments follow similar condemnation from other opposition parties.

Tim Farron, who predicts his LibDems will make gains on June 8 as a result of a Brexit backlash, said it was worrying that May could “back military intervention against Assad in Syria outside of a wider diplomatic strategy and without UN backing”.

He went on: “May would be wise not to use Syria as a campaign tool in this election.

“This would come across as calculating, unconsidered, and without the best interest of the Syrian people at heart.”

Caroline Lucas, joint leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, urged May to “come clean with voters”, saying: “If Theresa May is planning further military action in Syria then she should come clean with voters and lay out her plan.

“People deserve a say on foreign policy and any attempt to wait until after the election to signal intentions in Syria is simply wrong.

Parliament is united in horror at the carnage in Syria and the electorate deserve a chance to scrutinise how MPs from all sides will act on the issue if elected.”

Last month, Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn called for a diplomatic solution, saying: “We don’t need unilateral action. We need to work through the UN but, above all, we need to bend ourselves totally to getting a political settlement in Syria.”

A total of 30 Tory rebels voted against UK airstrikes against the Assad regime under David Cameron four years ago, including current Foreign Affairs Committee chair Crispin Blunt and Brexit Secretary David Davis.

Meanwhile, Turkey, Iran and Russia have signed an agreement calling for four “de-escalation zones” in Syria in the latest attempt to reduce violence.

The three countries back rival sides in the conflict but signed the agreement at ceasefire talks in Kazakhstan yesterday. The agreement calls for setting up four zones in northern, central and southern Syria.

Some members of the Syrian opposition delegation shouted in protest and walked out of the conference room in Astana, the Kazakh capital.

The opposition has protested about Iran’s participation at the conference, accusing it of being party to a war that has killed at least 400,000 people.