Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment of the legality of Turkey's operations in the Afrin district of Northern Syria.

​The situation in Afrin was discussed in the UN Security Council on Monday 22 January. We are closely following further developments and Ministers are in regular contact with their Turkish counterparts. In all our diplomatic engagement we have urged Turkey to avoid any escalation in violence and to seek to protect civilians, while recognising its legitimate interest in the security of its borders. It remains in our shared interest to focus on achieving a political settlement that ends the war in Syria, and provides stability for all Syrians and the wider region.