“The first flight from Marib and the first flight from Sana’a (today, Sunday) took off,” said Jessica Mosan, media advisor to the International Committee of the Red Cross.
She explained that “48 former detainees are on the flight from Marib to Sana’a, and 42 are on the flight from Sana’a to Marib.”
According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, which is supervising the operation, three additional planes are scheduled to transfer other prisoners today, after 318 prisoners were exchanged on Friday, and about 350 Houthis, 16 Saudis and 3 Sudanese are fighting in the ranks of the Saudi-led coalition on Saturday.
In 2014, the conflict began when the Iran-backed Houthis took control of several areas in the country, including Sana’a. The following year, Saudi Arabia intervened at the head of the coalition, exacerbating the conflict that left hundreds of thousands dead and caused one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.
The Houthis and the government reached, during negotiations held in Berne last month, an agreement to exchange more than 880 prisoners. Under the agreement, the Houthis will release 181 prisoners, including Saudis and Sudanese, in exchange for 706 detainees held by government forces.
The broad exchange process comes in the midst of diplomatic efforts to consolidate a long-term truce in Yemen and put the bloody war in the impoverished country on the path to a solution, following the announcement last month of an agreement between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which support two different sides in this conflict.
