Craig Whittaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the influence of ISIS in Yemen; and what steps his Department is taking with regional allies to curb that influence.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

We remain concerned by the terrorist threat in Yemen, including the presence of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and Daesh-Yemen. Long term instability increases the risk that terrorist groups continue to exploit the deteriorating situation to consolidate their support base and capabilities.

Throughout 2015, we saw an expansion of Daesh-Yemen, albeit starting from a small base. We judge that they remain a threat to UK strategic interests in the region, rather than a direct threat to the UK. We continue to work with regional partners to tackle the terrorist threat from Yemen. For operational reasons we cannot comment in detail on this activity.