Riyadh: Saudi Arabia and the Yemeni Houthi rebels have freed hundreds of prisoners of war as part of a multi-day exchange amid concerted efforts to end Yemen’s eight-year-old war, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
Saturday’s first flight left the southern Saudi city of Abha for Yemen’s Houthi-held capital Sanaa with 120 Houthi rebel prisoners, ICRC public affairs and media adviser Jessica Moussan said.
It was followed by a flight from Sanaa to Riyadh carrying 20 former detainees, among them 16 Saudis and three Sudanese, according to the state-affiliated Al Ekhbariya channel.
Sudan is part of the Saudi-led military coalition fighting in Yemen and has provided ground troops for the conflict.
Standing on the tarmac at Sanaa International Airport, Mohammed al-Darwi, a Houthi prisoner released in the exchange, told Al Jazeera: “We are happy to return to Sanaa after we were in the prisons of the enemy.”
The Sanaa-Riyadh flight also included a brother and son of Tareq Saleh, a member of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council and nephew of ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Other flights on Saturday included a second Abha-Sanaa leg with 117 Houthis on board, and three more carrying a combined 100 Houthis to Sanaa from the government-held Yemeni town of Mokha.
The exchange came after 318 prisoners were transported on Friday on four flights between government-controlled Aden and the rebel-held capital, Sanaa, reuniting with their families before next week’s Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr.
The prisoner exchange, which involves the release of more than 800 prisoners from all sides of the conflict, is a confidence-building measure coinciding with an intense diplomatic push to end Yemen’s war, which has left hundreds of thousands dead from the fighting as well as knock-on effects, such as food shortages and lack of access to healthcare.
Agencies

KR Desk