The circuitry recognised to regulate conditioned fear is well-established. Central to this circuitry is the prefrontal cortex and amygdala which regulate both learning and expression of fear. In the current study, the lateral hypothalamus of rats was targeted with an AAV viral vector (Lesioned group) or sham lesioned with vehicle (Control group). Contextual control of fear learning was then examined using an ABA renewal design. Following tone-footshock pairings in a distinct context (context A), both groups of rats increased freezing behaviour across conditioning (p<0.001) with no difference between groups (p>0.48). Extinction then occurred in a separate distinct context (context B), where both groups of rats decreased freezing behaviour across tone-alone presentations (p<0.001) with no difference between groups (p>0.48). Rats were then tested in both the fear and extinction contexts (A and B contexts). Overall, there was no effect of context (p>0.14) and no difference between groups in total freezing (p>0.7). However, importantly, there was a significant interaction between context and group (p<0.05), with simple effects analysis revealing that freezing was higher in context A versus context B for the Control group (p<0.02), but not for the Lesioned group (p>0.40). This study shows that the lateral hypothalamus did not impact the acquisition, extinction, or expression of conditioned fear, but was important for distinguishing between contexts, and hence where fear was expressed. The lateral hypothalamus may therefore be important for distinguishing between safe and dangerous contexts, and thus regulate appropriate fear expression, which is known to be important for anxiety disorders.