SANAA: Hundreds of prisoners of war, including Saudis, were freed on Saturday as part of a cross-border exchange between a military coalition and Yemen’s Ansar Allah fighters, the International Committee of the Red Cross said.
The flights connecting Saudi Arabia and Ansar Allah-held territory in Yemen were part of a multi-day transfer involving nearly 900 detainees, and came amid peace talks which have raised hopes for an end to Yemen’s eight-year-old war.
Saturday’s first flight left the southern Saudi city of Abha for Yemen’s Ansar Allah-held capital Sanaa with 120 Ansar Allah 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 coalition and has provided ground troops for the fighting.
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 Ansar Allah on board, and three more carrying a combined 100 Ansar Allah to Sanaa from the government-held Yemeni town of Mokha.
Detainee Abdullah Hashem, who spent seven and a half years in a Saudi prison, was embraced at Sanaa airport by his mother.
“I can finally taste freedom after imprisonment,” Hashem said.
On Friday, 318 prisoners were transported between government-controlled Aden and Sanaa, reuniting with their families ahead of next week’s holiday of Eid al Fitr.
The total number of prisoners of war on both sides is unknown.Coalition spokesman Turki al Maliki said the goal was to “get back all prisoners and detainees”.
The ongoing exchange 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 and knock-on effects like hunger and a lack of access to health care.
“We hope it’s one step in a larger journey that will eventually lead to peace,” said Mamadou Sow, ICRC’s head for the Gulf Cooperation Council. — AFP
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
