The official emblem of the Republic of Iraq.
‘A mistake’: Iraqi authorities backtrack on Hezbollah, Houthi inclusion on terror financing list
BAGHDAD — Iraq’s Committee for Freezing Terrorists’ Assets said Thursday that the inclusion of Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Yemen’s Ansar Allah, also known as the Houthis, on its terror financing list was “a mistake” caused by the publication of an unedited document in the official gazette.
The committee said the list should have included only “entities and individuals linked to ISIS and al-Qaida,” explaining that the document was published before final review. It confirmed that “the names will be removed” in an upcoming correction in al-Waqa’i al-Iraqiya, which carried the original version.
The clarification followed a previous issue of the gazette that announced a decision to freeze the assets of Hezbollah and the Houthis. That notice stated the update came from the Committee for Freezing Terrorists’ Assets at the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers and said the measures were based on “official decisions issued by the Committee for Freezing Assets, related to identifying entities and individuals subject to counterterrorism and counter-financing measures.”
The earlier decision cited multiple UN Security Council resolutions and Iraqi counterterrorism financing laws, and listed Hezbollah and the Houthis under “participation in committing a terrorist act,” referencing related UN listings.
The same issue also corrected the identity of the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, noting that the individual previously registered under the nom de guerre Abu Muhammad al-Jolani is now recorded under his legal name, Ahmed al-Shar’a, in line with a ruling by the UN Security Council’s ISIL and al-Qaida Sanctions Committee.
In its new statement, the Central Bank committee referred to Decision No. 61 of 2025, published in Issue 4848 of the gazette on Nov. 17, 2025. It said the list was prepared in response to a request from Malaysia under UN Security Council Resolution 1373 of 2001 and that Iraq had approved only entries “linked to ISIS and al-Qaida.”
The committee said the appearance of other groups resulted from “publishing the list before editing” and reiterated that those names “will be removed from the list of entities linked to ISIS and al-Qaida.”
It added that the correction will be issued in al-Waqa’i al-Iraqiya and that only entities associated with ISIS and al-Qaida fall under Iraq’s asset-freezing measures.