Dubai: The Saudi-led coalition has released seven Houthi rebel prisoners and returned them to Sana’a, the UN said yesterday.
The office of UN envoy Martin Griffiths said he was "very encouraged by this positive spirit from the two parties", following the release of a first Saudi prisoner on Tuesday.
The seven Houthis were transferred from Riyadh to rebel-held Sana’a by the International Committee of the Red Cross, the UN said.
The two parties agreed to exchange 15,000 detainees and have submitted lists of prisoners’ names to UN mediators.
The swap is part of a broader accord reached at UN-brokered talks in Sweden last month aimed at ending Yemen’s conflict.
UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash said later that the coalition struck 10 Houthi training camps outside the strategic port city of Hodeidah. He also said in a Twitter post that the coalition is prepared to use "calibrated force" to push the Iran-aligned militants to withdraw from Hodeidah under a UN-sponsored deal.