Yemen’s Houthi Rebels Offer To Release 200 Prisoners in Swap Ahead of Eid

Yemen’s Houthi rebels have offered to release 200 prisoners and called for the release of an equal number of prisoners from each of the groups involved in the country’s over-seven-year-long civil war, Reuters reported, citing the Yemeni Al-Masirah TV broadcaster. The release of the prisoners would take place prior to the Muslim Eid al-Fitr festival marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan, which begins on the evening of May 1. The Iran-backed Houthis and the Saudi-led coalition in support of Yemen’s internationally recognized government began negotiating a prisoner swap under the auspices of the United Nations at the end of March, at the same time as negotiations which led to a cease-fire for Ramadan were underway. A nationwide truce brokered by the UN has been underway since the beginning of the month. The prisoner swap could include 16 Saudi nationals and a brother of the Yemeni former President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, according to Reuters. The civil war broke out in late 2014 when the Houthis seized control of several provinces and forced Hadi’s Saudi-backed government out of Sanaa. Since then, tens of thousands of people have been killed, 4 million have been displaced, and much of the population has been pushed to starvation, according to the UN.