Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the current security situation in Daraa Al-Balad, Syria.

The UK strongly condemns the brutal violence inflicted by the regime on the city of Daraa al-Balad, particularly the assault launched after the agreement of a ceasefire on 1 September and the ongoing deaths of civilians, including children. We remain alarmed by the continued humanitarian crisis and we call on all parties to avoid further death and displacement and adhere to the ceasefire, which resumed on 6 September. We further call for the regime and its backers to urgently grant humanitarian access to the UN and humanitarian actors for civilians trapped in Daraa, and we urge that the UN work to ensure effective provision of basic life-saving items such as food, water and medical assistance which remains in short supply there.