Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if the Government will publish online near real time information collected from radars showing the flight paths of Russian and Syrian fighter jets in Syrian airspace.

Mike Penning

I am withholding the information as its disclosure would, or would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.

However, Russia appears to be partnering with the Syrian regime in the attacks on Aleppo which are causing large numbers of civilian casualties. Indiscriminate attacks which fail to distinguish between civilians and legitimate military targets would be a violation of International Humanitarian Law and we welcome the UN’s recent decision to establish an Internal Board of Inquiry into the attack on a UN aid convoy on 19 September.