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Arab coalition begins Houthi prisoners' transfer from Saudi Arabia to Yemen

May 6, 2022 at 3:06 pm

Soldiers, belonging to the Houthi movement, carry their rifles in Sana’a, Yemen on 6 October 2021 [Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images]

The Saudi-led Arab coalition said, on Friday, that a plane carrying Houthi prisoners took off from Saudi Arabia to Yemen, Anadolu News Agency reports.

The Saudi Press Agency quoted the coalition’s statement as saying “the first plane transporting Houthi prisoners to Yemen has left the Kingdom as part of the Saudi humanitarian initiative.”

“Three phases of transporting prisoners by airplanes to Sana’a and Aden will be completed today,” it added.

The Houthi rebel group and the Yemeni government have yet to comment on the coalition’s statement.

READ: Remembering the 1994 Yemeni Civil War

On 1 April, UN envoy to Yemen, Hans Grundberg, announced a “long overdue” two-month truce between Yemen’s warring rivals, under which all offensive military ​​​​​​​air, ground and maritime operations were halted.

Yemen has been engulfed by violence and instability since 2014, when Iranian-aligned Houthi rebels captured much of the country, including the capital, Sana’a.

According to the UN, the conflict has created one of the world’s worst man-made humanitarian crises.