Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of conflict in (a) Gaza and (b) Lebanon on stability in Syria.

Recent developments in Syria demonstrate how unstable the situation is. As I told colleagues in the House on 2 December, events in Syria are moving quickly, and the trajectory is unclear. Syria continues to be a theatre for regional tensions to play out, exacerbating the already dire humanitarian and security situation. Conflict in Lebanon led to the mass displacement of over half a million Syrians, Lebanese and Palestinians fleeing into Syria. We continue to monitor this as people are displaced, once again, due to developments in the North West. The UN-led political process remains the only path to a stable, peaceful and prosperous Syria and we continue to call on the Assad regime to engage meaningfully with the process.