Yemen government, Houthis to release more than 1,600 detainees in largest prisoner swap

ADEN/AMMAN- The internationally recognised Yemeni government and the Iran-aligned Houthi group will exchange more than 1,600 prisoners, the office of the U.N. special envoy for Yemen said on Thursday, marking the largest release of detainees since the outbreak of the war in Yemen.

The conflict erupted after the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa in 2014, prompting a Saudi-led military intervention in support of the government the following year.

Under the agreement, the Houthis will release 580 prisoners, including seven Saudis and 20 Sudanese, while the government will release 1,100 Houthi prisoners, Houthi official Abdulqader al-Mortada said in a post on X.

The two sides agreed to hold further talks on additional releases and allow mutual visits to detention facilities. They also agreed on an implementation plan with the International Committee of the Red Cross to move forward with the release operation.

"The agreement includes the release of a number of coalition forces personnel, members of the armed forces and security services, fighters from various military formations and the popular resistance, as well as politicians and journalists who spent years in Houthi detention,” Yahya Kazman, head of the government negotiating delegation, said in a post on X.

The deal follows 14 weeks of negotiations held in Amman in line with an agreement reached by both parties in December after U.N.-facilitated consultations in the Omani capital, Muscat.

“The issue of prisoners remains at the forefront of our priorities,” Mahdi al-Mashat, head of the Houthis’ Supreme Political Council, said, describing the deal as “a historic accomplishment”.

In April 2023, the two sides exchanged nearly 900 prisoners in a major operation coordinated by the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The war has killed tens of thousands of people and triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

-Reporting by Mohammed Ghobari and Jehad Abu Shalbak, Writing by Eman Abuhassira; Editing by Toby Chopra/Reuters