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Saudi Arabia on Monday released 104 prisoners to Yemen, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Saudi-led coalition said, in a unilateral move that followed a joint prisoner exchange between Yemen’s warring parties.
The military coalition, which intervened in Yemen in 2015 after Iran-aligned Houthis ousted the government from the capital Sanaa, said the additional release was to support dialogue in the ongoing effort to end Yemen’s conflict.
A Saudi delegation, which is seeking a permanent ceasefire to end its military involvement in the war, on Thursday concluded peace talks in Sanaa with the Houthi group, whose top negotiator said talks had progressed and further discussions would be held to resolve remaining differences. .
A senior aide to US President Joe Biden last week hailed progress in resolving the conflict in Yemen after what he described as “constructive” talks in Saudi Arabia with Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.
The head of Yemen’s Houthi Supreme Political Council, Mahdi al-Mashat, said on Saturday that more talks would take place after the Eid al-Fitr holiday, which begins this week, Yemen’s SABA reported.
Ahmed, 4 years old, is waiting at the airport #Sanaa to meet his father for the first time❤️
Haka’s mother was 2 months pregnant when her husband was arrested. pic.twitter.com/6EZB8FgS7h
A three-day operation between six cities in Yemen and Saudi Arabia overseen by the ICRC to return nearly 900 prisoners linked to the conflict ended on Sunday, a significant confidence-building step amid peace talks.
The Houthi deputy foreign minister said on Twitter that 104 Yemenis would be released outside the main prisoner exchange deal.
The warring parties agreed in negotiations in Switzerland last month to release 887 prisoners and met again in May to discuss further releases.
Tehran invited the Saudi king
Negotiators are hoping for an “all for all” deal involving all remaining prisoners in the talks, the latest in a series of meetings leading to the release of prisoners in 2022 and 2020 under a UN-mediated deal known as the Stockholm Agreement.
“Any respite for the tired population, including through release operations like this, is something to be supported. But in the end, only a political solution will end the suffering in Yemen,” said Fabrizio Carboni, regional director of the ICRC.
The conflict in Yemen, which has killed tens of thousands of people and starved millions, is widely seen as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which has helped the Houthis.
Iran has officially invited the king of Saudi Arabia to visit the country, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said on Monday in a separate development.
LISTENING | The war in Yemen, and the resulting humanitarian crisis:
Now19:22There has been no global action on the war in Yemen – and the humanitarian crisis it has caused
The war in Yemen has led to a humanitarian crisis, but there has been limited action from other countries. Guest host Mark Kelley spoke with Dr. William Cherniak, who is working to get ultrasound machines to Yemen; Radhya Almutawakel, co-founder and chairman of Mwatana for Human Rights; and Thomas Juneau, assistant professor at the University of Ottawa, and author of the book Le Yémen en guerre.
After years of strained relations fueled by proxy conflicts in the Middle East, where Tehran and Riyadh have backed opposing sides not only in Yemen but also in the war in Syria, Shiite revolutionary Iran and the Sunni-led kingdom reached an agreement in March to ending the seven-year war. – years of diplomatic cracks. The deal was brokered by China.
Technical delegations from the two countries are preparing to officially reopen the mission, and Tehran has said the mission will resume activities on May 9, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim News news agency reported.
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