DOHA, Qatar – Saddam Hussein’s son-in-law has left the Syrian capital and surrendered to the Iraqi National Congress in Baghdad, a spokesman in London said Sunday.

Jamal Mustafa Abdallah Sultan al-Tikriti is married to Saddam’s youngest daughter, Hala, and was deputy head of the Tribal Affairs Office in Saddam’s ousted regime.

“There have been some negotiations until he was persuaded to come to Baghdad and surrender to our people in Baghdad,” said Haider Ahmed, a spokesman for the INC in London.

He said he did not know precisely when al-Tikriti surrendered, but believed it was Sunday. Al-Tikriti had been persuaded to leave Damascus and surrender in Baghdad, Ahmed said.

He said his information came “from my colleagues in Baghdad.”

Officials at U.S. Central Command said they had heard the reports but had no information.

The report comes as President Bush applauded signs Sunday that Syria is beginning to heed American demands for cooperation against Saddam’s defunct regime.

Tensions between the United States and Syria escalated after reports surfaced that members of Saddam’s deposed government had crossed the border to flee the U.S.-led war.

The head of the INC, pro-U.S. opposition leader Ahmad Chalabi, earlier told Fox News from the Iraqi capital that al-Tikriti had been apprehended.