The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen reported the departure of two planes to Aden and Sanaa to hand over the released prisoners, as part of a humanitarian initiative to support a truce brokered by the United Nations.
The coalition indicated that 37 prisoners were transferred by land to Yemen and handed over on humanitarian grounds and their areas of residence are close to the border. It also confirmed the transfer of 108 others to Aden and 9 to Sanaa, and 9 foreign fighters are being handed over to the embassies of their countries.
The International Committee of the Red Cross had announced that it had facilitated the transfer of detainees from Saudi Arabia's Abha airport to Aden, all of whom are Yemenis detained for reasons related to the war in Yemen.
The coalition announced last April that it would release 163 prisoners from the Yemeni Houthi group, but a Houthi official later said that the list included individuals who do not belong to the group.
A spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Yemen, Bashir Omar, told Reuters that 108 detainees will be flown from Saudi Arabia to Aden, in southern Yemen, where the Saudi-backed Yemeni government is based, and 9 to the capital, Sanaa, which is controlled by the Houthis.
Sources at Aden International Airport said that more than 100 prisoners had already arrived at the airport from Saudi Arabia on board planes belonging to the International Committee of the Red Cross.
unidentified prisoners
A Yemeni government official also told Reuters that the Houthis agreed to take only nine prisoners, and then the rest were flown to Aden.
The head of the Houthi prisoners' affairs committee had said in May that the list of detainees included people unknown to the Houthi group and not among its prisoners.
The coalition intervened in Yemen in March 2015 against the Houthis after the Houthi group ousted the internationally recognized government from Sanaa in late 2014.
The warring parties agreed to a two-month truce that began on April 2, the first major breakthrough in years in a United Nations-led effort to end a war that has killed tens of thousands and caused a severe humanitarian crisis.
The parties also discussed a possible prisoner exchange under the auspices of the United Nations, including 1,400 Houthi prisoners and 823 coalition prisoners, including 16 Saudis.
The last major prisoner exchange between the two sides took place in 2020, and included about a thousand prisoners.