Iraq issues correction after Hezbollah, Houthis mistakenly listed as "terrorist"
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Iraq has issued a correction to its decision to classify Yemen’s Houthi movement and Lebanon’s Hezbollah as terrorist organizations, after the official gazette published a list that wrongly included both groups.
A government committee said the publication resulted from an unedited draft of terrorist entities and that it is working to correct the error, noting that the intended list was limited to entities linked to Al-Qaeda and Daesh.
Hours before the reversal, Iraq had appeared to designate the Houthis and Hezbollah as terrorist groups, with the official gazette stating that a government committee had ordered the freezing of assets belonging to individuals and entities associated with them.
The now-withdrawn list had named more than 100 organizations and individuals worldwide.
The gazette said the terrorism list update was based on decisions by the Terrorist Assets Freeze Committee concerning entities subject to counterterrorism and anti–money laundering measures.
The confusion comes one day after U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Michael Rigas urged what he called “Iraqi partners” to curb groups and prevent them from threatening Iraqis and Americans.
