Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they support the UN’s proposal for a ceasefire throughout Syria until the COVID-19 pandemic is over; and if so, what discussions, if any, they have had with the governments involved in that conflict about that proposal.

We support the UN call for an immediate, lasting, and nationwide ceasefire in Syria to enable complete focus on countering COVID-19. The Minister for the Middle East and North Africa discussed this with Geir Pedersen, UN Special Envoy for Syria, on 1 April and we have expressed our support for this initiative at the UN Security Council and in bilateral discussions with some of the countries involved in the Syrian conflict. However, we have not discussed this proposal with the Assad regime since we have had no diplomatic relations with them since 2012.