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 (a) presence and (b) military capacity of Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

The UK expects Lebanese Hizballah to abide fully by the terms of the ceasefire agreement. This means withdrawing from areas of southern Lebanon and to enable an enhanced Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) deployment into these areas as stipulated under the terms of the ceasefire agreement and support implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701. The LAF are essential to the future security and stability of Lebanon and the UK stands ready to support their deployment to southern Lebanon.