Houthis, Yemen government to exchange nearly 3,000 prisoners

MUSCAT, Oman: Yemen’s Houthi rebels and its internationally-recognised government have agreed to a prisoner swap that includes nearly 3,000 people in total, including seven Saudis, officials from both sides said Tuesday.

The deal came after nearly a fortnight of discussions between Yemeni officials from both sides in Muscat, the capital of neighbouring Oman, a key mediator in the conflict that has lasted for over a decade.

Majed Fadhail, a member of the government delegation for the prisoner swap talks, said they had agreed with the Houthis on a new exchange that would see “thousands” of war prisoners released.

Abdulqader al-Mortada, an official with the Houthi delegation, said in a statement on X that “we signed an agreement today with the other party to implement a large-scale prisoner exchange deal involving 1,700 of our prisoners in exchange for 1,200 of theirs, including seven Saudis and 23 Sudanese”.

Two of the seven Saudi nationals are air force pilots, Fadhail told AFP.

United Nations Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg in a statement welcomed the agreement as “a positive and meaningful step that will hopefully ease the suffering of detainees and their families across Yemen”.

He added that its “effective implementation will require the continued engagement and cooperation of the parties, coordinated regional support and sustained efforts to build on this progress toward further releases”.