Recent tribal efforts resulted in a new deal to release 40 prisoners from al-Amaleqa Brigades in exchange for 74 Houthi detainees, mostly children, who were sent by the militias to the West coast front earlier this year.
On Sunday, dozens of southern prisoners from the Southern Amaleqa Brigades arrived in the temporary capital Aden. The prisoners were captured by the Iran-backed Houthi militias on the west coast battlefront.
The prisoner exchange successfully took place in the Maris area, north of the southern province of Dhale, amid tight security measures, said Sheikh Yasser al-Hadi, who is responsible for the prisoner file in southern governorates.
He told Asharq Al-Awsat that the success of the deal was a product of over four months of negotiations with the Houthis under the direct supervision of senior officer of the west coast front commander Abdel al-Rahman al-Mahrami.
Nabil al-Jubairi, head of the prisoners department of the west coast front, revealed that a new exchange will be negotiated with the Houthis, describing it as the largest such deal.
In a press release, Jubairi promised families that he will work to search for missing detainees and negotiate their release terms with the militias until they are freed.
Previous deals with Houthis militia led by Sheikh Hadi, in coordination with Martyrs, Injured and Prisoners’ Affairs Office, succeeded in the release of dozens of southern prisoners in the Maris area in 2017 and 2018.
