Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of proscribing the political wing of Hezbollah as a result of the comments made by Hezbollah Deputy Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem that the organisation does not maintain a military and a political wing.

The UK distinguishes between the political and military wings of Hizballah. The UK proscribed Hizballah’s External Security Organisation in March 2001 and in 2008 the proscription was extended to Hizballah’s military apparatus. We do not routinely comment on whether an organisation is or is not under consideration for proscription.