Yemeni Government and Houthis Agree to Exchange Nearly 3,000 Prisoners in Oman Talks

After several days of talks, the Yemeni government and the Houthi rebels announced on Tuesday that they had reached an agreement on an exchange of nearly 3,000 prisoners after talks in Oman, with the UN describing the truce as continuing to hold even though it has not been formally renewed.

The deal, reached in the capital of the neighboring Sultanate of Oman, was framed by Majed Fadhail, a member of the government delegation responsible for negotiations on the prisoner exchange, and by Abdelkader al-Mourtada, head of the Houthi delegation for detainees.

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Fadhail said the agreement would involve 1,700 of our prisoners in exchange for 1,200 of theirs, including seven Saudis and 23 Sudanese, while al-Mourtada said they signed today an agreement to implement a large-scale prisoner exchange.

Neither side indicated when the exchange would take place, and the UN special envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg welcomed the agreement as a positive and significant measure that, hopefully, would relieve the suffering of detainees and their families across Yemen.

UN Special Envoy Hans Grundberg welcomed the agreement as a "positive and meaningful measure" while warning that effective implementation would require ongoing engagement and cooperation of the parties, coordinated regional support, and sustained efforts to capitalize on these gains toward further releases.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk urged on X to "release them immediately and unconditionally," and the International Committee of the Red Cross said it was ready to proceed with the release, transfer, and repatriation of detainees so that people separated from their families could be reunited in safe and dignified conditions.

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In Amman, Jordan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates welcomed the agreement reached between Yemeni parties under United Nations auspices to release more than 1,600 detainees, with Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ambassador Fouad Majali saying hosting the talks reflects the Kingdom’s support for UN-led, Arab, and international efforts aimed at achieving peace, security, and stability in Yemen.

Majali praised the efforts of UN Special Envoy Hans Grundberg and the vital role played by the International Committee of the Red Cross and all parties involved in reaching the landmark humanitarian agreement, described as the largest prisoner release since the start of the Yemeni crisis.

While the Le Figaro account described an exchange involving 1,700 of our prisoners in exchange for 1,200 of theirs, other reporting put the scale higher, with Yemen Monitor/New York/Agencies saying the Yemeni government announced the signing of the “largest” prisoner exchange deal involving 1,728 detainees from both sides.

The UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq told reporters, “We welcome a major breakthrough in efforts to secure the release of conflict-related detainees,” and he added that the parties agreed to release more than 1,600 detainees, described as the largest deal of its kind since the beginning of the conflict.

Yemen Online also reported that Jordan welcomed the agreement as releasing more than 1,600 detainees, while Arab News PK said Saudi Arabia welcomed an agreement reached in Jordan to exchange more than 1,600 conflict-related detainees, describing the deal as a positive step toward easing humanitarian suffering and strengthening prospects for stability.

The International Committee of the Red Cross was repeatedly described as the mechanism for implementation, with the Yemeni government and the Houthi group agreeing to release detainees under UN auspices and with the ICRC ready to proceed with release, transfer, and repatriation in safe and dignified conditions.