MUSCAT: Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militia and its internationally-recognized government have agreed to a prisoner swap that includes nearly 3,000 people in total, officials from both sides said Tuesday.
The deal came after nearly a fortnight of discussions between Yemeni officials from both sides in Muscat, the capital of neighboring Oman, a key mediator in the conflict that has lasted for over a decade.
Majed Fadhail, a member of the government delegation for the prisoner swap talks, said they had agreed with the Houthis on a new exchange that would see “thousands” of war prisoners released.
Abdulqader Al-Mortada, an official with the Houthi delegation, said in a statement on X that “we signed an agreement today with the other party to implement a large-scale prisoner exchange deal involving 1,700 of our prisoners in exchange for 1,200 of theirs, including seven Saudis and 23 Sudanese.”
United Nations Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg in a statement welcomed the agreement as “a positive and meaningful step that will hopefully ease the suffering of detainees and their families across Yemen.”
He added that its “effective implementation will require the continued engagement and cooperation of the parties, coordinated regional support and sustained efforts to build on this progress toward further releases.”
Houthis, Yemen government agree to exchange nearly 3,000 prisoners: officials
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Houthis, Yemen government agree to exchange nearly 3,000 prisoners: officials
- The deal came after nearly a fortnight of discussions between Yemeni officials from both sides in Muscat
Thousands stage pro-Gaza rally in Istanbul
- Thousands joined a New Year’s Day rally for Gaza in Istanbul Thursday, waving Palestinian and Turkish flags and calling for an end to the violence in the tiny war-torn territory
ISTANBUL: Thousands joined a New Year’s Day rally for Gaza in Istanbul Thursday, waving Palestinian and Turkish flags and calling for an end to the violence in the tiny war-torn territory.
Demonstrators gathered in freezing temperatures under cloudless blue skies to march to the city’s Galata Bridge for a rally under the slogan: “We won’t remain silent, we won’t forget Palestine,” an AFP reporter at the scene said.
More than 400 civil society organizations were present at the rally, one of whose organizers was Bilal Erdogan, the youngest son of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Police sources and Anadolou state news agency said some 500,000 people had joined the march at which there were speeches and a performance by Lebanese-born singer Maher Zain of his song “Free Palestine.”
“We are praying that 2026 will bring goodness for our entire nation and for the oppressed Palestinians,” said Erdogan, who chairs the board of the Ilim Yayma Foundation, an educational charity that was one of the organizers of the march.
Turkiye has been one of the most vocal critics of the war in Gaza and helped broker a recent ceasefire that halted the deadly war waged by Israel in response to Hamas’s unprecedented attack on October 7, 2023.
But the fragile October 10 ceasefire has not stopped the violence with more than more than 400 Palestinians killed since it took hold.
