The Syrian Civil War was one of Cox's main campaigning issues.[11] In October 2015 she co-authored, with Conservative MP Andrew Mitchell, an article in The Observer arguing that British military forces could help achieve an ethical solution to the conflict in Syria.[21] During that month Cox launched the All Party Parliamentary Friends of Syria group, becoming its chair.[22][23] In the subsequent vote to approve UK military intervention against ISIL in Syria, Cox abstained (one of five Labour MPs to do so),[7] as she did not consider the intervention to be part of an effective comprehensive strategy to tackle the Syrian conflict including dealing with President Bashar al-Assad.[11][24]