Written question asked by Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party) on Thursday, 13 April 2017, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 19 April 2017. It was answered by Mike Penning (Conservative) on Monday, 24 April 2017 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Syria: Military Intervention

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 24 February 2017 to Question 64013, on armed forces: deployment, what the legal basis was for UK involvement in US airstrikes against (a) Junaid Hussain and (b) Mohammed Emwazi.

Answer: Junaid Hussain and Mohammed Emwazi were members of Daesh. The UK has been working as part of a Coalition since September 2014 which was invited by the Iraqi Prime Minister to defeat Daesh, on the legal basis of the collective self-defence of Iraq. This was confirmed by the UK Permanent Representative to the UN in a letter dated 25 November 2014 to the UN Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council indicating that the UK is taking measures "to enable Iraqi forces to regain control of the borders of Iraq by striking ISIL [Daesh] sites and military strongholds in Syria".

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 70393
Session: 2016-17
Related items: Armed Forces: Deployment
Friday, 24 February 2017
Written questions
House of Commons
Subjects: USA Syria Military intervention Unmanned air systems Emwazi, Mohammed Hussain, Junaid
Link: View this Written question on www.parliament.uk