Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what reports he has received on the safety of the Armenian community in Kessab.

We remain deeply concerned about the safety of Armenians and members of all other minority groups in Syria. We believe that the majority of Kessab's inhabitants, including most of the ethnic Armenian population, left the town because of fighting in the area. Our understanding is that they have mainly joined other Armenian communities in Syria and neighbouring countries. They join the more than 9 million Syrians of all faiths and ethnicities who have been driven from their homes by the ongoing conflict.