Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy is aware that EU policy on the Middle East is co-ordinated and led by the High Representative and the European External Action Service, EEAS, of the EU, not by the rotating national Presidency. An ever present danger in the Syrian crisis has been that it would escalate to engulf the wider region. Recent events, such as the alleged Israeli bombing of a target in Syria, the dreadful car bombing in Turkey last weekend, the recent kidnapping of UN Disengagement Observer Force, UNDOF, peacekeepers in the Golan and the continuing threat facing personnel serving with that vital mission, reinforce those fears and underline the urgent need for concerted international action to achieve a peaceful resolution as well as to provide urgent humanitarian assistance.

Israel is widely believed to have been responsible for an attack on a Syrian military base on 5 May, a further attack on a military convoy heading towards the Lebanese border on 2 May and an earlier incident in January, but this has not been confirmed. The Israeli Government, as is its practice, has not officially commented or accepted responsibility for these attacks. I am concerned if this is indeed the case, but I am also concerned about the reported movement of advanced weapons from Syria to supply Hizbollah in Lebanon and the use of these weapons by Hizbollah in attacks on Israeli cities.

All sides in the internal Syrian conflict and in the wider region need to show restraint at this critical juncture. Focusing exclusively on the actions of one party to a complex series of conflicts involving many parties will not help to achieve peace in Syria or the wider Middle East.

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