Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effect of recent reports of aerial bombardments, including against schools, on the humanitarian situation in the Eastern Ghouta region in Syria.

We remain deeply concerned by reports of attacks by pro-regime forces on civilians and civilian infrastructures, including on healthcare facilities and schools. This, alongside continued obstruction of humanitarian access by the regime, is contributing to the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Eastern Ghouta. The Department for International Development (DFID) has supported the UN and international non-governmental organisations to deliver aid to hard-to-reach and besieged areas, including Eastern Ghouta. DFID’s humanitarian partners are on the ground in Eastern Ghouta providing life-saving healthcare, food, and protection, but humanitarian access remains severely constrained. We continue to use our position in the UN Security Council and the International Syria Support Group to press the regime and its backers to allow unfettered access so that aid can reach those in desperate need. We call​ on all parties to adhere to agreed ceasefires in order to bring about the conditions for a political settlement that will end the suffering of the Syrian people.​