Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the involvement of Hezbollah in the captagon trade.

The Syrian regime's reliance on illicit profits gained from captagon increases regional instability and strengthens Russian and Iranian influence in the region. In particular, Hezbollah benefits from captagon, using their knowledge of narcotic trading routes, political connections, and security infrastructure to expand the production and trafficking of this narcotic. Known Hezbollah drug lords and leaders have been implicated in seizures and work closely with Syria's military 'fourth division' to facilitate smuggling efforts. Hezbollah is proscribed by the UK, and we maintain an asset freeze against the organisation and are working to ensure they cannot continue to profit from this trade.