SANAA (AFP) – Scores of prisoners of war, including Saudis, were freed yesterday as part of a cross-border exchange between a military coalition and Yemen’s Iran-backed Huthi rebels, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said.
The flights connecting Saudi Arabia and Huthi-held territory in Yemen were part of a multi-day transfer involving nearly 900 detainees that comes amid peace talks which have raised hopes for an end to Yemen’s eight-year-old war.
The first flight of the day took off from the southern Saudi city of Abha before 9am, headed for Yemen’s Huthi-held capital Sanaa with 120 Huthi rebel prisoners, ICRC public affairs and media adviser Jessica Moussan said.
It was followed by a flight from Sanaa carrying 20 former detainees, among them 16 Saudis and three Sudanese.
