Syria: anti-Government Forces

Stephen Mosley Excerpts
Monday 4th March 2013

(11 years, 8 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Lord Swire Portrait Mr Swire
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Let me repeat that the amendment of the EU arms embargo allows us to provide a wider range of non-lethal equipment and technical assistance that will do more to save lives. My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary intends to make a statement to the House about UK assistance on Wednesday 6 March, and the details are being finalised.

Stephen Mosley Portrait Stephen Mosley (City of Chester) (Con)
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My hon. Friend the Member for New Forest East (Dr Lewis) has already mentioned Assad’s stockpile of chemical weapons. What contingency arrangements have been made by the British Government and our allies in case Assad decides to use those weapons, or they fall into the hands of extremist groups?

Lord Swire Portrait Mr Swire
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Any use of chemical or biological weapons would of course be abhorrent, and would send a further signal of the depths to which the Assad regime would be willing to stoop to attack its own people. The regime is under intense international scrutiny, and any use of such weapons would be universally condemned.