Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-04-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of Russian airstrikes on the number of non-extremist opposition fighters in Syria.

Penny Mordaunt

The Syrian regime, backed by Russian airstrikes, has put significant pressure on the non-extremist opposition, particularly in rural Damascus, Hama, Homs, Latakia and Aleppo. However, the Joint Intelligence Organisation has concluded that non-extremist opposition numbers have held up despite recent pressure.