Muscat: The Yemeni government and the Houthi group have reached an agreement to exchange thousands of prisoners, concluding two weeks of negotiations hosted by Oman. Government negotiator Majid Fadael revealed the development through a post on the social media platform X, confirming that both sides have agreed to release a significant number of detainees and abductees.
According to Anadolu Agency, the Houthi group also confirmed the agreement, which involves a large-scale prisoner exchange. Specifically, the deal includes the release of 1,700 Houthi prisoners in exchange for 1,200 detainees held by the government, among them seven Saudis and 23 Sudanese nationals. The Houthi-led committee for prisoners' affairs expressed gratitude to Omani officials for their role in facilitating the negotiations.
Negotiations between the Yemeni government and the Houthis began in Muscat, as reported by a Yemeni government source to Anadolu Agency on December 12. This latest agreement follows an earlier major prisoner exchange in April 2023, where about 900 prisoners and detainees were released by both sides with mediation from the International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations after discussions in Switzerland.
The conflict in Yemen, which began in September 2014 when the Iran-aligned Houthi group seized the capital Sanaa, has seen a relative state of calm since April 2022 due to a truce that halted hostilities. On January 25, 2025, the Houthis independently released 153 individuals captured during battles with government forces.
The exact number of detainees held by both parties remains uncertain. During talks in Stockholm in 2018, lists of over 15,000 prisoners and detainees were submitted by both government and Houthi delegations, although rights groups estimate the figure to be closer to 20,000. Despite ongoing regional and international efforts, Yemen is yet to achieve a comprehensive peace settlement, and recent security developments in southern Yemen have heightened concerns about potential fragmentation within the country.