Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the threat posed by Islamic State to the town of Kobane.

Reports from Kobane continue to be deeply concerning and we are watching the situation closely. Over recent days, however, the defenders of Kobane, supported by coalition airstrikes, have been able to hold their position against ISIL, and in some areas they are pushing back. The moderate opposition have held back ISIL in other parts of Northern Syria. We strongly support the coalition airstrikes that are being carried out in Syria by the United States, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, and Jordan. As well as supporting international military action to push back ISIL, we are providing technical assistance and non-lethal equipment to the moderate opposition in Syria, whose forces fighting are ISIL on the ground, and providing humanitarian aid to those areas, like Kobane, that have been worst affected by the crisis. The Department for International Development has already responded to the urgent needs of Syrian Kurdish refugees that have fled to Turkey and is in a state of readiness to react swiftly to further developments.