Richard Arkless – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Arkless on 2015-12-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the potential change in numbers of Syrian refugees arriving in Europe as a result of the commencement of UK airstrikes in Syria.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

We have not made any estimates of the potential increase in numbers of Syrian refugees arriving in Europe as a result of UK airstrikes. The majority of people who have been displaced in Syria have been fleeing regime and Daesh attacks. Unlike the Assad regime and its allies, who are bombing indiscriminately, Coalition military efforts in both Iraq and Syria are specifically designed to minimise civilian casualties. Targets are selected through rigorous protocol, based on the principles of proportionality, legality and military necessity. As the the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Philip Hammond) confirmed to the House on 16 December we are not aware of any civilian casualties as a result of the RAF airstrikes in Syria.