Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-09-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the UK is a party to the Syrian Counter Terror Agreement made by the US and Russia on 9 September 2016; whether the UK plans to provide any assistance or reconnaissance intelligence for actions taken under that agreement; and whether British forces’ operations in Iraq and Syria will be affected by that agreement.

Mike Penning

The UK supported US efforts to reach agreement with Russia to reinstate a cessation of hostilities in Syria and will continue to work for the restoration of a credible cessation of Hostilities. The UK was not, however, a party to the US-Russia arrangement which was a purely bilateral one. While the UK would have considered seriously any requests received, we were not asked for either assistance or reconnaissance intelligence for its implementation.