Commenting on the EU-summit deliberations on Gaza, British Middle East expert Edmund Fitton-Brown said: "That element of balance [deploring also Hamas] rescues the exercise from being completely counterproductive". The original statement on Hamas' 7 October attack said the EU "condemns [it] in the strongest possible terms", in what Fitton-Brown said was "a 10 out of 10 condemnation" in terms of diplomatic vocabulary. "I think they [EU leaders] have it about right on Syria - balancing criticism with encouragement and potential incentives," the British ex-diplomat, Fitton-Brown, said. But reading the draft summit communiqué on al-Sharaa more closely (which "strongly condemns" the sectarian violence), Fitton-Brown added: "I'm not sure the word 'strongly' is necessary."