After the announcement of the coalition to release 163 prisoners – Houthi leader: “We don’t know them”

The Houthis have evaded a deal to release dozens of their captives, in an effort to thwart a Saudi initiative to release 163 of them.

The head of the Houthi Prisoners’ Affairs Committee, Abdul Qader Al-Murtada, said in a statement published by the Saba agency (the Houthi-controlled version): “We were informed of a statement containing a number of names other than those announced by Saudi Arabia, and more than that, they are not our prisoners and they are not known to us”, he said, stressing that “the Red Cross was informed that we are not concerned with them”.

On Thursday, the Saudi-led Arab Coalition to Support Legitimacy in Yemen said it would release 163 prisoners from the Iran-allied Houthi group who had fought against the kingdom as part of a humanitarian initiative to support a solution to the Yemeni crisis.

In a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency, the coalition said it has already begun taking action to release the prisoners in coordination with the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Gen. Turki al-Maliki, the coalition’s spokesperson, said the step comes to support all efforts to end the Yemeni crisis, establish peace, and the UN’s efforts to consolidate the current truce, “create an atmosphere of dialog between the Yemeni parties, as well as facilitate ending the file of prisoners and detainees”.

The last major prisoner exchange, involving around 1,000 prisoners, took place in 2020 as part of the confidence-building measures agreed at the last peace talks held in 2018.

The UN special envoy to Yemen, Hans Grundberg, said on Twitter last Thursday that the parties confirmed their commitment to maintaining the truce across the country, in the most significant step in years towards ending the seven-year conflict.

At the beginning of last month, a UN-brokered truce in Yemen came into effect, and will last for two months.

The agreement includes allowing commercial flights from Sanaa International Airport, which has been open only to aid flights since 2016.

The flights have not yet begun, with the Yemeni government insisting that all travelers carry passports issued by the government.

The Yemeni government accused the Houthis of attempting to smuggle Iranian and Lebanese Hezbollah fighters and of using passports issued by them.

Grundberg said: “We are working hard to help them [the parties] find solutions to resume flights from Sana’a”.