§ Mr. Lees-SmithHas the Prime Minister any information to give the House regarding the situation in Syria?
§ The Prime MinisterIt is true that we have received a formal application from the French High Commissioner in Syria, General Dentz, for a discussion of terms leading to an armistice. I need hardly say how very glad His Majesty's Government will be to see an end brought to this distressing conflict, in which 1,000 to 1,500 British, Australian and Indian soldiers who volunteered to join the Army in order to defend France have fallen, killed or wounded, under French bullets as the result of the lamentable confusion in which the affairs of so many good people in so many parts of the world have been thrown by the victories of Hitler's Army. I, therefore, should welcome the negotiations, and I trust they may reach a speedy conclusion. Pending any formal arrangement being made, military operations must, of course, continue without abatement.