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Baghdad: Iraq’s government on Thursday retracted a terror designation for Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group and Yemen’s Houthi rebels, just weeks after imposing the measure it now says was a mistake.

The government’s retraction came hours after reports first circulated about the designation, which was an error made “before reviewing,” according to a statement.

The initial decision, published in the official Iraqi gazette on November 17, had placed the two groups — both allies of Iran and also Iraq’s Shiite militias — among 24 organisations targeted under a national asset freeze order, accusing them of “participating in committing a terrorist act.” Iraq is under increasing pressure from the United States to clamp down on local Iran-backed militias. Baghdad is also struggling to ba

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