Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Michael Fallon and Martyn Day

Monday 19th October 2015 Commons Chamber

[Callum McCaig (Aberdeen South) (SNP)]

14. What lessons his Department has learned from military action in Libya, Afghanistan and Iraq which will inform a decision on possible UK military intervention in Syria.

[Martyn Day (Linlithgow and East Falkirk) (SNP)]

17. What lessons his Department has learned from military action in Libya, Afghanistan and Iraq which will inform a decision on possible UK military intervention in Syria.

[The Secretary of State for Defence (Michael Fallon)]

The Department has conducted a number of lessons-learned exercises during and after military operations in Libya, Afghanistan and Iraq, in particular that military action needs to be set in the wider political context. In Syria, for example, the long-term solution to the current conflict, and to the presence of ISIL, has to be an acceptable political transition, and we continue to work to support this.

[Michael Fallon]

Yes. My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister and other leaders were recently in New York at the United Nations General Assembly pressing all their colleagues to search for a political solution that would enable the formation of a more comprehensive Government who would appeal to and attract from all parts of Syrian society, whether Kurdish, Shi’a, Sunni, Christian, Druze, or whatever. We have such a comprehensive Government in Iraq; it is time now to find one for Syria too.

[Martyn Day]

What consideration has the Defence Secretary given to the financial and human cost of air strikes in Syria?

[Michael Fallon]

There is certainly a cost to military operations, but there is a greater cost in our not dealing with the growth and spread of ISIL across the middle east. We are doing this in response to a request from the democratic, legitimate Government of Iraq to come to their aid. We are also doing it for the greater stability of the region and, ultimately, to keep our own streets safe.

--- Later in debate ---

[Michael Fallon]

The United Kingdom was instrumental in securing the recent Security Council resolution 2240, which authorises all navies to take action against smugglers and human traffickers on the high seas in the Mediterranean. This will support the efforts of HMS Enterprise and HMS Richmond, which is taking up its station off the Libyan coast this week, in contributing to the naval operations in the Mediterranean and tackling this evil trade as it occurs.

[Martyn Day (Linlithgow and East Falkirk) (SNP)]

T8. Will the Defence Secretary confirm what support our armed forces are giving to the people of the Philippines in this difficult time?