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Yemen foes swap prisoners in Taez battleground
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Yemen's warring parties exchanged dozens of prisoners captured in fighting for third city Taez on Saturday following mediation by local tribes, the chief mediator said.Government forces which control the city released 118 prisoners, while Iran-backed Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews... militias who control most of the surrounding province freed 76, tribal chief Abdullatif al-Muradi said. Loyalist officials in the besieged city confirmed the exchange and said it was a local initiative unconnected to UN-brokered peace talks in Kuwait. Those negotiations, now in their ninth week, have made no major breakthroughs, even on the prisoners issue. Earlier this month, the militias released 187 prisoners while Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... freed 52 children it was holding. But that was far short of the target set by UN mediators for 50 percent of all prisoners to be released before the start of the Moslem holy month of Ramadan. The peace talks have also had little impact on the fighting for Taez despite a UN-brokered ceasefire that took effect on April 11. Just hours before the prisoner exchange, the rebels rained rocket fire on several parts of the city, residents said. There was also heavy fighting for the town of Kirsh on the main highway to Taez from the southern port city of Aden, where the government of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi is based. Despite a 15-month-old intervention by a Saudi-led coalition, the Houthi militias and their allies still control the capital Sanaa and most of the central and northern highlands, as well as the Red Sea coast. Posted by: Fred 2016-06-19 |
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