Yemen’s Houthi rebels release 153 war detainees, Red Cross says
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DUBAI — Yemen’s Houthi rebels unilaterally freed 153 war detainees Saturday, the International Committee of the Red Cross said, one of several overtures in recent days to ease tensions after the cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
Previous prisoner releases have been viewed as a means to jump-start talks over permanently ending Yemen’s decade-long war, which began when the Houthis seized the country’s capital, Sanaa, in 2014. However, the release comes just after the rebels detained seven other Yemenis working with the United Nations, sparking anger from the world body.
Those released previously had been visited by Red Cross staff in Sanaa and received medical checks and other assistance, the organization said while announcing the release.
The Red Cross said it “welcomes this unilateral release as another positive step towards reviving negotiations.”
“This operation has brought much-needed relief and joy to families who have been anxiously waiting for the return of their loved ones,” said Christine Cipolla, the International Committee of the Red Cross’ head of delegation in Yemen. “We know that many other families are also waiting for their chance to be reunited. We hope that today’s release will lead to many more moments like this.”
Powerful forces in Middle East and, now, in Washington working against truce lasting beyond its first phase.
Abdul Qader al-Murtada, the head of the Houthis’ Committee for Prisoners’ Affairs, said in a statement carried by Houthi media that those released were “humanitarian cases’ that included the sick, wounded and elderly people.
“The goal of the initiative is to build trust and establish a new phase of serious and honest dealing,” Al-Murtada reportedly said.
The Red Cross has helped oversee other prisoner releases, including one that saw some 1,000 prisoners swapped in 2020, more than 800 detainees exchanged in 2023 and another release in 2024.
The rebels said this week as the Gaza cease-fire began that they would limit their attacks on ships in the Red Sea corridor and released the 25-member crew of the Galaxy Leader, a ship they seized in November 2023.
The war in Yemen has killed more than 150,000 people, including fighters and civilians, and created one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters, which has killed tens of thousands more.
The Houthis’ attacks on shipping during the Israel-Hamas war have helped deflect attention from their problems at home. But they have faced casualties and damage from U.S.-led airstrikes targeting the group for months now, as well as other strikes by Israel.
Four female Israeli soldiers held hostage by Hamas have returned to Israel after militants paraded them in front of a crowd of thousands in Gaza City.
Yemen’s economy is in tatters, something that’s put increasing pressure on the Houthis and others in the conflict to potentially negotiate an end to the war. A de facto cease-fire in the conflict, which drew in a Saudi-led coalition in 2015, has largely held for several years now even during the Houthis attacks over the Israel-Hamas war.
Yet the Houthis still conducted the raids in which seven U.N. workers were detained, likely alongside others. The rebels previously detained U.N. staffers, as well as individuals associated with the now-shuttered U.S. Embassy in Sanaa, Yemen’s capital, aid groups and civil society.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres late Friday demanded the immediate and unconditional release of the seven, as well as all other U.N. workers held by the Houthis, some since 2021.
“The continued targeting of U.N. personnel and its partners negatively impacts our ability to assist millions of people in need in Yemen,” he warned in a statement. “The Houthis must deliver on their previous commitments and act in the best interests of the Yemeni people and the overall efforts to achieve peace in Yemen.”
The U.N. has halted work in Yemen, which provides food, medicine and other aid to the impoverished nation.
President Trump separately has moved to reinstate a terrorism designation he made on the Houthis late in his first term that had been revoked by President Biden, potentially setting the stage for new tensions with the rebels.
Analysts have linked the newest U.N. detentions as being connected to the decision, though the Houthis themselves have yet to comment on them. The rebels have been airing repeated programs on television channels they control parading people they describe as working with Western intelligence agencies or Israel.
Gambrell writes for the Associated Press.
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