Local Editor
Houthi Ansarullah and pro-Hadi forces exchanged nearly 200 prisoners in Taiz in central Yemen on Saturday, the largest such swap to take place in the embattled city since the beginning of a civil war last year, local sources said.
The exchange of 118 Houthis and 76 pro-Hadi fighters, will raise hopes that a ceasefire declared in April may be taking hold in Yemen’s third largest city after repeated violations by both sides.
The threat from an emerging common enemy may be galvanizing the two sides’ efforts to cooperate. Islamic State militants appear to be behind a rapid uptick in suicide attacks and al Qaeda fighters continue to hold sway over swathes of Yemen, which abuts Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter.
Fighting between the Ansarullah revolutionaries and supporters of the exiled Yemeni government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi has eased in much of Yemen since they announced the truce before the start of U.N.-sponsored peace talks in Kuwait.
The talks in Kuwait have made little progress toward ending the war, which has killed more than 9,400 people and displaced more than 2.5 million, causing a severe humanitarian crisis.
More than 14 million Yemenis, more than half of the country’s population, are in need of emergency food and life-saving assistance, according to a report this month by the United Nations.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team
