Yemen prisoner swap begins
SANAA/GENEVA: Planes carrying prisoners exchanged by the warring parties in Yemen took off from three airports yesterday in an operation to return about 1000 men home and help build the trust to enable fresh talks to end a devastating war.
The Saudiled military coalition and Yemen’s Houthi movement agreed last month in Switzerland to exchange 1081 prisoners, including 15 Saudis, in the largest swap of its kind in the fiveyearold conflict.
In an operation managed by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), three planes carrying members of the coalition freed from detention took off from the Houthiheld capital, Sanaa.
‘‘This operation that means so much to so many families is under way,’’ Fabrizio Carboni, ICRC regional director for the Middle East, said from Sanaa airport.
One of the planes was carrying Saudi and Sudanese detainees and flew to Saudi Arabia. The other two flew to Sayoun airport in the governmentheld Hadramout region.
Two planes carrying Houthis released by the coalition flew from Sayoun to Sanaa, while another arrived from Abha airport in Saudi Arabia. — Reuters