Sharjah 24 – AFP: Hundreds of captives from Yemen's brutal civil war were reunited with friends and family as a major prisoner swap started on Friday, hours after truce talks broke up with an agreement to meet again.
As hopes rise of an end to Yemen's devastating eight-year war, 318 prisoners flew on four flights between government-controlled Aden and the Huthi-held capital, Sanaa.
Sixty-nine flew from Sanaa to Aden, and another 249 went in the opposite direction, on the first day of a three-day operation that will see the release of nearly 900 detainees, the International Committee of the Red Cross said.
On Friday, large crowds gathered at Yemen's main airports.
The transfers will resume early Saturday with at least two flights planned between Saudi Arabia and Yemen, the ICRC added.
The exchange and the truce negotiations come a month after Gulf heavyweights Saudi Arabia and Iran agreed to re-establish diplomatic ties, sparking a wave of rapprochement across the troubled region.
"There is an initial agreement on a truce that should be announced later on, if finalised," a Huthi official said on condition of anonymity. The information was confirmed by a government source.
The Huthis' chief negotiator, Mohammed Abdusalam, called the talks "serious and positive" and said he was "hoping to complete the discussion of outstanding issues at a later time".
Hans Grundberg, the UN special envoy for Yemen, hailed the prisoner release ahead of next week's Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr.
"Today, hundreds of Yemeni families get to celebrate Eid with their loved ones because the parties negotiated and reached an agreement," he said.
The transfers have been welcomed by the Gulf Cooperation Council and the US administration, which praised Friday's exchange as a "breakthrough".
"We encourage all parties to further consolidate these positive trends and ultimately forge a diplomatic resolution," US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said in a statement.
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