Yemen's government forces in the central Taiz city and Shia Houthi militia besieging the city exchanged 280 prisoners in a deal successfully concluded at the end of direct talks without third party mediation, local sources have said.
Each side released 140 prisoners, with the government calling the people it secured the release of 'hostages' as most of them are local civilians not working with the government but had been swept by Houthi militiamen from checkpoints and thrown to jail six years ago just to twist the government's arm into releasing the militia's fighters.