Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of the recent reports of attacks on Alawite communities in Syria.

The events in Syria at the start of March 2025 were deeply concerning and reports that large numbers of civilians have been killed are horrific. We are working as quickly as possible to establish from reliable sources of information what exactly happened and who was responsible. Following the Foreign Secretary's public statement on 9 March, I made clear in my statement to the House on 10 March that the interim authorities have a responsibility to ensure the protection of all Syrian civilians and to make progress towards an inclusive political transition. We will judge them by their actions.