Yemen’s internationally recognized government and the Houthi movement reached an agreement Tuesday on a large-scale prisoner exchange that would see nearly 3,000 detainees released, including seven Saudi nationals, in what negotiators described as the biggest such deal since the war began.
The agreement was concluded after almost two weeks of talks held in Muscat, hosted by Oman, which has played a central mediating role in Yemen’s decade-long conflict. Officials from both sides confirmed the deal but offered few details on implementation, leaving observers cautious as they urged follow-through.
Majed Fadhail, a member of the government delegation involved in the negotiations, told AFP the two sides had agreed in principle to release “thousands” of prisoners. He described the agreement as the largest exchange to date and said the process of compiling and trading prisoner lists would begin immediately and be completed within a month.
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A different breakdown of the numbers was provided by Abdulqader al-Mortada, a senior Houthi negotiator overseeing detainee files. In a statement posted on X, he said the agreement called for the release of 1,700 Houthi-held prisoners in exchange for 1,200 detainees held by the government side. He said those to be freed would include seven Saudis and 23 Sudanese nationals.
Fadhail said two of the Saudi prisoners are air force pilots. He added that Mohamed Qahtan, a senior political figure aligned with the Saudi-backed government, would also be among those released. Qahtan has been held by the Houthis since 2015 and has long been one of the most prominent detainees in the conflict.
The prisoner deal comes amid shifting dynamics within Yemen’s anti-Houthi camp. Earlier this month, Yemeni separatist forces that formally fall under the government umbrella seized control of large areas from rival government-aligned units and their allies, raising concerns about further fragmentation among factions opposed to the Houthis.
The war in Yemen has pitted the Houthis, who control much of the country’s north, against the internationally recognized government backed by a Saudi-led coalition. While prisoner exchanges in past years have served as rare confidence-building measures, implementation has often been slow and uneven.
No timetable was announced for the actual release of detainees under the new agreement. Mediators and diplomats said successful execution could provide momentum for broader de-escalation efforts, though deep political and military divisions remain unresolved.