Dan Jarvis – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2015-11-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to develop a comprehensive strategy to combat ISIL and simultaneously prioritise the protection of civilians in Syria.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

The UK already has a robust, long-term and comprehensive strategy to degrade and defeat ISIL. As the Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (David Cameron) said on 16 November, the UK’s approach covers a full spectrum response – military power, counter-terrorism expertise and defeating the poisonous narrative that is the root cause of this evil. We are reinforcing our investment in our response and working tirelessly to protect UK citizens, both at home and abroad, from the threat posed by ISIL.

We are also playing a leading role in the 65-member Global Coalition tackling ISIL. That international effort includes military action against ISIL in its heartlands in Iraq and Syria, coordinated international efforts to cut off its finances, tackling foreign fighter flows, and stabilising areas which have been liberated from ISIL. The Coalition is also confronting ISIL’s ideology by exposing this extremism for what it is – a belief system that glorifies violence and subjugates its people, most of all Muslims. On 28 November, I co-chaired the Coalition Strategic Communications Working Group’s social media conference in London.

The UK remains committed to protecting civilians in Syria, both from the brutality of ISIL and the indiscriminate killing of the Assad regime. I refer the Honourable Gentleman to the answer I gave to Question 15059 on 13 November.