Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking with his international counterparts to ensure the Bab al-Hawa border crossing from Turkey to north west Syria is fully operational following damage sustained to that crossing as a result of the recent earthquake in that region.

The Prime Minister spoke to President Erdogan on 7 February, noting the humanitarian situation over the border in north west Syria, where Turkey plays an important coordinating role. The UK has stressed the importance of aid reaching all those who require it as quickly and efficiently as possible. That is why we called for additional crossings from Turkey as soon as the earthquake struck, and supported expanding humanitarian access to north west Syria even before this new crisis.

We welcome the UN-brokered agreement on 13 February to open additional border crossings into north west Syria for an initial period of three months. It is vital that the UN is able to deliver aid swiftly via these border crossings and we will be working with the UN to verify that this is happening. As of 16 February over 140 trucks have so far crossed to north-west Syria since the earthquakes began.