CAIRO (Net) — Saudi Arabia on Saturday released over a dozen war prisoners to their rivals, the Houthi rebels in Yemen, a Houthi official said. The release came as Omani officials arrived in the Yem-eni capital as part of international efforts to end Yemen’s years-long conflict.
Abdul-Qader el-Murtaza, a Houthi official in charge of prisoner exchange talks in Yemen’s conflict, said 13 Houthi prisoners arrived Saturday in the capital, Sanaa.
He said the prisoners were released in exchange for a Saudi prisoner the Houthis freed. He did not say when the rebels released the Saudi prisoner.
Saturday’s release was part of a U.N.-brokered deal which Yemen’s warring parties stuck last month and includes the release of nearly 900 prisoners from both sides, el-Murtaza said.
The U.N.-brokered deal is scheduled to be implemented this month.
Yemen’s conflict began in 2014, when the Houthis seized Sanaa and much of the country’s north, oust-ing the internationally recognized government that fled to the south then into exile in Saudi Arabia.
The Houthi move prompted a Saudi-led coalition to intervene months later in a bid to restore the inter-nationally recognized government to power. The conflict has in recent years turned into a regional proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. It has killed more than 150,000 people, including fighters and civil-ians, and created one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters.
Omani officials, meanwhile, landed in Sanaa for talks with Houthi officials in the latest efforts to renew a ceasefire deal that expired in October, said Mohammed Abdul-Salam, the chief negotiator of the Houthi rebels.
Oman has for years hosted talks between the Iranian-backed Houthis and Saudi Arabia. The talks have been intensified since the warring sides failed to renew a U.N.-brokered cease-fire in October.
The Houthi-run al-Masirah TV reported that a Saudi delegation, led by the Saudi ambassador to Yemen, Mohammed bin Saeed Al-Jaber, would visit Sanaa on Sunday, also for talks with the Houthis.
The negotiations in Oman’s capital, Muscat focused on preventing all-out fighting after the ceasefire col-lapsed, and laying out a path for a negotiated end to Yemen’s civil war.
These talks have gained momentum in recent weeks after Saudi Arabia reached an agreement with Iran to restore their diplomatic ties after a seven-year rift. The Iran-Saudi deal, announced in Beijing on March 10, has invigorated hopes of a settlement to Yemen’s conflict.
