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Yemen Rejects Houthi Attempts to Implement Swap Deal in Stages

UN envoy Martin Griffiths, to his right, head of the delegation of the Red Cross committee in Sanaa, when they attended talks between the government and Houthis in Amman last year. (Getty Images)
UN envoy Martin Griffiths, to his right, head of the delegation of the Red Cross committee in Sanaa, when they attended talks between the government and Houthis in Amman last year. (Getty Images)
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Yemen Rejects Houthi Attempts to Implement Swap Deal in Stages

UN envoy Martin Griffiths, to his right, head of the delegation of the Red Cross committee in Sanaa, when they attended talks between the government and Houthis in Amman last year. (Getty Images)
UN envoy Martin Griffiths, to his right, head of the delegation of the Red Cross committee in Sanaa, when they attended talks between the government and Houthis in Amman last year. (Getty Images)

The Yemeni legitimate government confirmed its commitment to the full implementation of the Amman Agreement on a prisoner exchange deal with the Iran-backed Houthi militias. The agreement, which Houthis are looking to implement in stages, stipulates the release of 1,420 people in its first phase.

Human rights deputy and negotiating member Majed Fadael, speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, denied the government approved to divide the deal in phases.

The agreement was brokered in April after rounds of negotiations in the Jordanian capital, Amman, under the supervision of United Nations special envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths’ office.

“There are no new talks. We are only discussing what we had arrived to in the third round of talks in Amman and this involves the release of 1,420 detainees in the first stage, building up to the point where a total swap is implemented through others,” Fadael told Asharq Al-Awsat.

“We have exchanged name roasters, and the swap is still underway, but we are yet to finalize the agreement on all names. There is a sufficient number of names that have been approved though and we insist that the swap includes 1,420 detainees,” Fadael added.

He stressed that the names of those to be released include detainees linked to the Arab coalition, one of the four included named in a UN Security Council resolution, journalists and the elderly.

While the Yemeni official stressed the importance of expediting the implementation of the lists of names, he accused the Houthi group of intransigence and evasiveness towards the Amman Agreement.

Rival parties in the Yemen conflict are in talks on a "quite considerable" prisoner exchange deal, a senior official from the International Committee of the Red Cross has told AFP.

"Today, the parties are talking about a prisoner release that is quite considerable, but there is still a bit of agreement that has to be made on lists" and implementation, said Franz Rauchenstein, head of the ICRC delegation in Yemen.

He said the agency was working very closely with the two parties to strike a deal.

"We are very hopeful it might take place in a few days or weeks from now, and the ICRC would be ready of course to implement that logistically," Rauchenstein said in an interview at the weekend.

"But there are still a few agreements to finalize," he added.

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Washington Links Israeli Withdrawal from Southern Lebanon to Hezbollah’s Disarmament

Local residents inspect the debris and rubble from a collapsed building hit by an overnight Israeli airstrike in the Haret Hreik neighborhood of Beirut's southern suburbs on June 6, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
Local residents inspect the debris and rubble from a collapsed building hit by an overnight Israeli airstrike in the Haret Hreik neighborhood of Beirut's southern suburbs on June 6, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
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Washington Links Israeli Withdrawal from Southern Lebanon to Hezbollah’s Disarmament

Local residents inspect the debris and rubble from a collapsed building hit by an overnight Israeli airstrike in the Haret Hreik neighborhood of Beirut's southern suburbs on June 6, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
Local residents inspect the debris and rubble from a collapsed building hit by an overnight Israeli airstrike in the Haret Hreik neighborhood of Beirut's southern suburbs on June 6, 2025. (Photo by AFP)

Concerns are growing in Lebanon after the United States' reluctance to step in, either directly or through the International Monitoring Committee overseeing the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire agreement, and prevent Israel from further escalating its strikes in the country.

On Thursday, the Israeli military struck several buildings in Beirut’s southern suburbs that it said held underground facilities used by Hezbollah for drone production. The strikes, preceded by an Israeli warning to evacuate several buildings, came on the eve of Eid al-Adha.

What aggravated the Lebanese concerns was Israel’s prior notification to the United States of its plan to target these buildings, which were later found not to be used by Hezbollah for manufacturing drones.

According to official Lebanese sources who spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat on condition of anonymity, they said that Washington acknowledged that the buildings were not used by Hezbollah and directed blame at Tel Aviv citing that Israel’s justifications were unfounded.

But the US criticism of Tel Aviv is unlikely to deter the latter from carrying out further aggression against Lebanon, amid the failure of the monitoring committee to address Israel’s violations.

Washington blaming Israel will not change the reality on the ground as long as it enjoys a US cover that allows it to maintain pressure on Lebanon to set a timeline for Hezbollah’s disarmament linked to its own withdrawal from the south.

But Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam have reiterated commitment to limiting weapons to the state’s control and urged the international community to pressure Israel into withdrawing from southern Lebanon.

Ministerial sources said that President Aoun stands firm in his position and is in ongoing communication with Hezbollah leadership paving way for dialogue aimed at ensuring the state’s exclusive control over arms once conditions are ripe for implementation.

The sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Hezbollah has no choice but to engage in serious dialogue, which is not intended as a stalling tactic while awaiting the outcome of US-Iranian negotiations on the nuclear file.

They also assure that Lebanon is committed to the continued presence of the monitoring committee overseeing the implementation of the ceasefire.

They point out that the upcoming dialogue with Hezbollah on securing the state’s exclusive control over weapons is a cornerstone of Lebanon’s national security strategy.

The sources question the absence of the US engagement in Lebanon mainly regarding the military developments and Israel’s escalation. They highlight that Lebanon is witnessing one of its darkest times compounded by Washington’s dismissal of Morgan Ortagus, the deputy special envoy for the Middle East, from handling the Lebanese file.

This move has left US Ambassador to Lebanon Lisa Johnson, and the entire Lebanese state, in a state of uncertainty, as Washington is reportedly considering sending Ambassador Thomas Barrett, although no official date has been announced for his arrival in Beirut.

Barrett is currently the US envoy to Türkiye and recently appointed by President Donald Trump as special envoy to Syria.

On the other hand, political sources interpret the current absence of the US role, and Israel’s unrestricted freedom to act against Hezbollah’s remaining military capabilities, as a deliberate strategy it uses to safeguard its borders.

It also links withdrawal from south Lebanon to a timeline for containing Hezbollah’s weapons and limiting it to the state’s control.

The White House endorses the principle of linking Israel’s withdrawal to Hezbollah’s disarmament as “it was crafted in the United States”, according to MPs who frequently visit Washington.

Lebanon has no choice but to adhere to that, viewing it as a mandatory passage to bring a political end to the Iranian interference in the region with the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, and to enter a new political phase for the Mediterranean country.