Calls For Inquiry Into UK Role In Syria

Civilians amid damage and debris in the Syrian region of Ghouta (Library image: PA).

A committee of MPs says the price of inaction in the conflict in Syria has been unacceptably high and that the UK must bear its share of responsibility for atrocities committed there.

Members of the Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee are calling for an independent inquiry into why Britain has not done more to intervene in Syria, something the Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has already said he does not think would be appropriate.

The UK carried out air strikes against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime in April 2018 following a suspected chemical weapons attack by Syrian government forces, but calls for action to protect civilians had been made as early as 2011.

The Commons Foreign Affairs Committee said there had been a "manifest failure to protect civilians and to prevent mass atrocity crimes in Syria".

The committee accepted that the Government had made a "significant contribution" to humanitarian efforts but the failure to act had resulted in severe consequences and opened the door for Russia and Iran to intervene.

"It has become clear through our inquiry that the price of inaction in the case of Syria has been unacceptably high," the committee's report said.

How the April 2018 airstrikes against the Syrian President unfolded

Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Tom Tugendhat said: "The consequences of inaction can be devastating.

"The people of Syria show clearly that choosing not to act, standing aside, can have consequences every bit as real and horrific as the decision to act."

The Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, says Britain has not been a bystander, spending almost £3 billion in aid, taking a lead on chemical weapons and joining the fight against so-called Islamic State.

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