SANAA: Hundreds of prisoners of war, including Saudis, were freed on Saturday as part of a cross-border exchange between a Saudi-led military coalition and Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels, the International Committee of the Red Cross said.

The flights connecting Saudi Arabia and Houthi-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 Houthi-held capital Sanaa with 120 Houthi rebel 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 Saudi-led 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 Houthis on board, and three more carrying a combined 100 Houthis 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 Eidul 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.

Analysts say that eight years after mobilising a coalition to crush the Houthis, the Saudis have come to terms with the fact that this goal will not be met and are looking to wind down their military engagement.

Crown Prince Moham­med bin Salman, who was a 29-year-old defence minister when the war began, has since become the kingdom’s de facto ruler and is keen to focus on his sweeping “Vision 2030” domestic reform agenda.

The Saudi exit strategy appears to have taken new impetus from a landmark rapprochement deal annou­nced with Iran last month.

Published in Dawn, April 16th, 2023