Lord Empey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Empey on 2016-10-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they are providing any military training to rebel forces fighting in Syria.

Earl Howe

The UK participated in the original US-led ‘Train and Equip’ programme for vetted Syrian opposition forces fighting Daesh in 2015. The Ministry of Defence announced on 25 October 2016, that up to 20 UK personnel will be deploying to locations in the region, but outside Syria, to contribute to the refined and restarted programme. Their role will be to train selected members of vetted moderate Syrian opposition groups in the skills they need to continue to take the fight to Daesh. The UK is not participating in the "Equip" element of this programme.