Caroline Lucas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2015-11-26.

To ask the Prime Minister, what the evidential basis is for his estimate that there are about 70,000 Syrian opposition fighters on the ground who do not belong to extremist groups; whether he has shared that estimate with all coalition partners; whether that estimate is congruent with those supplied by other partner countries in the coalition; and if he will make a statement.

Mr David Cameron

We estimate that there are around 70,000 Syrian opposition fighters on the ground who do not belong to extremist groups, many of whom are linked to the Free Syrian Army. In addition to these 70,000, there are around 20,000 Kurdish fighters in Syria, who are also playing an important role in combating ISIL. The information we have on individual groups which forms the basis of this estimate is drawn in large part from intelligence. It would not be to the benefit of these non-extremist opposition fighters if we were to make it public to ISIL and the Syrian regime. We have very close intelligence relationships with a range of allies and partners, and share assessments with them as a matter of course.