![\"US-to-revoke-terrorist-designation-of-Houthis-citing-famine-rapidnews-rapid-news-dailyrapidnews\"](\"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/US-to-revoke-terrorist-designation-of-Houthis-citing-famine-rapidnews-rapid-news-dailyrapidnews.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe United States intends to revoke the terrorist designation for Yemen\u2019s Houthi movement in response to the country\u2019s humanitarian crisis, reversing one of the most criticised last-minute decisions of the Trump administration.<\/p>\n
The reversal, confirmed by a State Department official on Friday, comes a day after President Joe Biden declared a halt to US support for the Saudi Arabia-led military campaign in Yemen, widely seen as a proxy conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur action is due entirely to the humanitarian consequences of this last-minute designation from the prior administration, which the United Nations and humanitarian organizations have since made clear would accelerate the world\u2019s worst humanitarian crisis,\u201d the official said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In a statement, Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, welcomed the decision.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe designation \u2026 stopped food and other critical aid from being delivered inside Yemen and would have prevented effective political negotiation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The United Nations on Friday also welcomed Washington\u2019s plan to revoke the US terrorist designation for Yemen\u2019s Houthi group \u201cas it will provide profound relief to millions of Yemenis who rely on humanitarian assistance and commercial imports to meet their basic survival needs\u201d, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.<\/p>\n
Just days before his term in office ended on January 20, then-US President Donald Trump designated the Houthis a \u201cforeign terrorist organisation\u201d \u2013 effectively barring US citizens and entities from interacting financially with the group.<\/p>\n
The United Nations describes Yemen as the world\u2019s biggest humanitarian crisis, with 80 percent of its 24 million people in need, and it warned the Trump administration that the designation would push millions in Yemen into a large-scale famine.<\/p>\n
The State Department official has also stressed the latest action has \u201cnothing to do\u201d with the US view of the Houthis and their \u201creprehensible conduct\u201d, and repeated Washington\u2019s commitment to helping Saudi Arabia to defend its territory against further such attacks.<\/p>\n
The Trump administration exempted aid groups, the United Nations, the Red Cross and the export of agricultural commodities, medicine and medical devices from its designation, but UN officials and aid groups said the carve-outs were not enough and called for the decision to be revoked.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The United States intends to revoke the terrorist designation for Yemen\u2019s Houthi movement in response<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3773,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n