Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the fate of the Assyrian Christian prisoners abducted by Daesh on 24 February from Syrian villages along the River Khabour in Hassaka Governorate.

We understand that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has abducted more than 200 Assyrian Christians from the Hassaka region in North-East Syria. We believe that, in another act of appalling barbarity, ISIL has executed at least 15 of the hostages and that 23 Assyrian Christians have since been released following the payment of ransom money by the families. We remain concerned for the remaining hostages, most of whom are women, children and elderly people. We support the UN Security Council Statement condemning the abductions and demanding the Christians immediate release.

The UK is committed to defeating ISIL, an organisation that has no place in today’s world. We will continue to work with the Global Coalition of more than sixty countries to ensure that ISIL no longer poses a threat to the people of the region, to international stability or to our own national security.