WASHINGTON [MENL] -- The Bush administration has ruled out a military strike against Syria.

Officials said the administration has decided to reject a proposal from the Defense Department to begin military operations in Syria. They said the administration dismissed an option to pressure the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad through military means.

"We're looking for a change in Syrian behavior," James Jeffrey, the senior adviser on Iraq to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, said on Tuesday. "We have not yet seen it and we are impatient."

But Ms. Rice said United States and Iraq would confront Syria through diplomatic and other measures. She said Baghdad and Washington would form a coalition that would address the use of Syria as an insurgency base against the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq.