US Blacklisting of Yemen’s Houthis to Be Lifted on Feb. 16: Blinken

Newly confirmed U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken removes his face mask as he arrives to hold his first press briefing at the State Department in Washington, on Jan. 27, 2021. Carlos Barria/Reuters/Pool/File Photo

WASHINGTON—U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced on Friday that he will revoke—effective Feb. 16—designations of Yemen’s Houthi movement as a foreign terrorist organization and a specially designated global terrorist group.

The decision, reversing the former Trump administration’s blacklisting of the Houthis, is part of a policy shift by U.S. President Joe Biden aimed at easing the world’s worst humanitarian crisis and intensifying diplomacy to end Yemen’s grueling civil war.