The UN-backed agreement will see the ICRC facilitate the exchange of hundreds of detainees from both sides.

Yemen’s internationally recognised government and the Houthi group have signed a United Nations-backed agreement in Jordan to exchange more than 1,600 detainees, marking the largest prisoner exchange since the country’s civil war began in September 2014.

Under the accord, the Houthis will release 580 prisoners, including seven Saudis and 20 Sudanese, while the government will release 1,100 Houthi prisoners, Houthi official Abdulqader al-Mortada said in a post on social media on Thursday.

Separately, Yahya Kazman, the deputy head of the government negotiating team, said in a post on X that nearly 1,728 detainees from both sides will be released as part of what he called the “largest” agreement of its kind.

The deal follows more than three months of negotiations held in the Jordanian capital Amman in line with an agreement reached by both parties in December after UN-facilitated consultations in the Omani capital Muscat.

The two sides agreed to hold further talks on additional releases and allow mutual visits to detention facilities. They also agreed on an implementation plan with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to move forward with the release operation.

“The agreement includes the release of a number of coalition forces personnel, members of the armed forces and security services, fighters from various military formations and the popular resistance, as well as politicians and journalists who spent years in Houthi detention,” Kazman said on social media.

Kazman expressed “full solidarity” with those still detained, pledging continued efforts alongside their families until all detainees are released “as part of efforts to empty the prisons”.

“The issue of prisoners remains at the forefront of our priorities,” Mahdi al-Mashat, head of the Houthis’ Supreme Political Council, said, describing the deal as “a historic accomplishment”.

‘Crucial step forward’

The Houthis hailed the agreement, describing it as “an important humanitarian step towards addressing the issue of prisoners and alleviating the suffering of their families”.

In a statement, the group said it “affirmed its support for any efforts leading to the release of prisoners and detainees based on the principle of ‘all for all'”.

The Houthis also said that “the continued detention of prisoners constitutes a violation of international humanitarian law”, calling on the UN and “international bodies to play a more effective role in ensuring the implementation of the agreements and the release of all detainees”.

The ICRC also said it “welcomed” the agreement between the two parties, saying in a statement that it “represents a crucial step forward”.

“Today’s agreement has brought families closer to the reunifications they have been so anxiously waiting for,” said Christine Cipolla, the ICRC’s head of delegation in Yemen.

“Now that the identities of those detainees who are to be released, transferred and repatriated have been agreed, the ICRC is ready to assume its role as a neutral intermediary in implementing these complex humanitarian operations.”

In April 2023, the two sides exchanged nearly 900 prisoners in a major operation coordinated by the ICRC.

The conflict erupted after the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa in 2014, prompting a Saudi-led military intervention in support of the government the following year. The civil war has since killed tens of thousands of people, destroyed much of Yemen’s infrastructure, and triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.