Houthi govt minister welcomes US re-designation of Yemen

Yemen's Houthi government's minister of foreign affairs said on Saturday the government was "ready for peace" as he welcomed US President Joe Biden's decision to revoke the terrorist designation of Yemen's Houthi rebels.

For years, the Iranian-backed Houthis have ruled the capital and Yemen's north where the majority of the country's population lives, forcing international aid groups to work with them.

Agencies depend on the Houthis to deliver aid, and they pay salaries to Houthis to do so.

Former US President Donald Trump's administration branded the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization, a move that limited the provision of aid to Yemen, a country of 29 million people that's currently on the brink of famine.

Aid agencies working in the war-torn country welcomed Biden's plans to mitigate one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters.

"The most important thing we want to see in the coming period is no interception to oil derivatives for the citizens, no interception for food for the citizens, to start arrangements for peace, a ceasefire, and to completely lift the blockade, and God willing, the Yemeni people will see achievements from the government in Sanaa,"  Hisham Sharaf, Houthi government's minister of foreign affairs, told the AP.

Yemen's war began in September 2014, when the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa and began a march south to try to seize the entire country.

Saudi Arabia, along with the United Arab Emirates and other countries, entered the war alongside Yemen's internationally recognized government in March 2015.

The war has killed some 130,000 people, including over 13,000 civilians slain in targeted attacks, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Project.

A State Department official confirmed Friday that the Biden administration intends to remove the Houthis from the terror list.

However, the official said the move would change nothing about the administration's views of the Houthis, who have targeted civilians and kidnapped Americans.