On the second day of the prisoner deal between the legitimate government and the Houthis, which lasts 3 days for the exchange of more than 800 prisoners through 15 flights to 6 airports inside Yemen, today (Saturday), the first plane took off from Abha, southern Saudi Arabia, to Sanaa, with 120 prisoners on board. The Houthis, according to Jessica Mossan, media advisor to the International Committee of the Red Cross.
While the spokesman for the government delegation to the prisoners’ negotiations, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Human Rights, Majed Fadael, announced in a tweet on his Twitter account, that the second phase of the operation will take place through the airports of Mocha-Sana’a, Abha-Sana’a, and Sanaa-Riyadh, and it will be through 6 flights from by the International Committee of the Red Cross.
He pointed out that three flights will depart from Al-Mokha to Sana'a with a total of 100 Houthi detainees, and another from Sana'a to Riyadh, and will transport Afash Tariq, Brigadier General Muhammad Saleh and the brother of the Deputy Presidential Leadership Council Brigadier General Tariq Saleh, and finally two flights will take off from Abha Airport to Sana'a to transport a total of 250 Houthi detainees.
The first phase of the prisoner exchange between the two sides began yesterday (Friday), when the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) planes transported 318 prisoners to and from the capital, Sana'a, and Aden.
The Houthis released 69 people, including former Defense Minister Mahmoud Al-Subaihi and the brother of former President Nasser Mansour Hadi, who are covered by UN Security Council Resolution 2216, and the government released 249 prisoners who were transferred from Aden to Sana'a via two flights.
Yemeni Interior Minister Ibrahim Ali Ahmed considered that this operation, which took place at the initiative of Saudi Arabia and the Coalition to Support Legitimacy, is the largest in years. He stressed that it will continue to include everyone after Eid al-Fitr. He pointed out that greater understandings are coming regarding the peace process after the exchange of prisoners.
It is noteworthy that in the last major exchange that took place in October 2020, more than 1,050 prisoners were released and returned to their regions or countries, according to what the International Committee of the Red Cross announced.
Okaz (Jeddah) @okaz_online