SANAA, Yemen — Yemen’s warring sides on Sunday wrapped up a serious alternate of prisoners linked to the nation’s long-running battle, in response to the International Committee for the Red Cross.
The three-day operation, which began Friday, was essentially the most vital prisoner alternate in Yemen for the reason that Saudi-led coalition and their rivals, the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, launched greater than 1,000 detainees in October 2020.
The U.N.-brokered deal concerned the discharge of over 700 detained Houthis, and greater than 180 different prisoners, together with Saudi and Sudanese troops combating with the Saudi-led coalition.
The Red Cross stated it “worked tirelessly to reunite about 900 former detainees with their families,” describing the prisoner alternate as a “positive step toward peace and reconciliation in Yemen.”
Yemen was plunged into devastating battle when the Iranian-backed Houthis descended from their northern stronghold in 2014, seizing the capital of Sanaa and far of northern Yemen and forcing the federal government into exile.
A Saudi-led coalition together with the United Arab Emirates intervened in 2015 to attempt to restore the internationally acknowledged authorities. The battle has turned lately right into a proxy conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The conflict has killed greater than 150,000 individuals, together with fighters and civilians, and created one of many world’s worst humanitarian disasters.
The prisoner alternate deal concerned the discharge of prime navy officers held by the Houthis for the reason that begin of the conflict. Those launched included Maj. Gen. Mahmoud al-Subaihi, who was the protection minister when the conflict erupted; Nasser Mansour Hadi, the brother of former Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi; and kinfolk of Yemen’s former ruler Ali Abdullah Saleh.
The Houthis on Saturday freed Saudi and Sudanese troops whom the rebels detained whereas combating on the aspect of the Saudi-led coalition.
The rebels additionally freed 4 Yemeni journalists who had been detained and sentenced to loss of life lately by a Houthi-controlled courtroom in a trial described by Amnesty International as “grossly unfair.”
The prisoner alternate got here because the Houthis and Saudi Arabia stated they’ve made progress of their negotiations to revive an expired cease-fire and embark on talks to settle the battle.
The Houthis stated each side would proceed their talks after the approaching vacation of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the tip of the Islamic holy month Ramadan, later in April.
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