Yemen’s Warring Sides Agree to Recover Bodies in Parallel With Major Prisoner Swap
UN- and Red Cross-backed deal raises hopes for families of the missing as nearly 3,000 detainees are set for exchange.
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) — Yemen’s Houthi rebels and the country’s internationally recognized government announced on Wednesday that they have agreed to recover and exchange bodies from the battlefield, a humanitarian step linked to a landmark prisoner swap that could see nearly 3,000 detainees freed.
The agreement, signed under the auspices of the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), aims to facilitate the recovery and handover of remains from all fronts and regions of the conflict, offering long-awaited answers to families of the missing after more than a decade of war.
“An agreement for the recovery and handover of bodies from all fronts and all areas was signed today by all parties under the supervision of the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross,” Abdulqader al-Mortada, a negotiator with the Houthi delegation, said in a statement posted on X.
He added that the move would “hopefully help reveal the fate of thousands of missing persons from both sides.”
Government negotiator Majed Fadail confirmed to AFP that the deal was signed on Wednesday morning, describing it as “an annex” to the broader prisoner exchange agreement reached a day earlier.
On Tuesday, the two sides agreed to swap nearly 3,000 prisoners, a move that—if fully implemented—would mark the largest prisoner exchange since the war began in 2015.
While officials have released few operational details, diplomats and humanitarian observers are urging both parties to follow through, viewing the deal as a crucial confidence-building measure in a fragile peace process.
The Iran-backed Houthis have been fighting Yemen’s internationally recognized government, supported by a Saudi-led coalition, since the rebels seized large swathes of the country, including the capital Sanaa, in 2014.
The conflict has killed hundreds of thousands of people, either directly or indirectly, and plunged Yemen into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, with widespread hunger, disease, and displacement.
Although large-scale fighting has significantly declined since a UN-brokered truce in 2022, a comprehensive political settlement to formally end the war has remained elusive. Negotiations aimed at achieving a lasting ceasefire and political transition have stalled repeatedly amid deep mistrust and unresolved economic and security issues.
Tuesday’s breakthrough followed nearly two weeks of talks in Muscat, the capital of neighboring Oman, which has played a key mediating role between the warring sides. Oman has frequently hosted indirect negotiations and humanitarian discussions, positioning itself as a neutral facilitator in the long-running conflict.
The latest agreements build on earlier confidence-building steps, including a reconciliation deal between the Houthis’ main foreign backer, Iran, and Saudi Arabia in early 2023. That rapprochement paved the way for the release of nearly 900 prisoners in April of that year, raising cautious optimism about de-escalation.
While the body recovery and prisoner swap agreements fall short of ending the war, observers say they represent meaningful humanitarian progress and could help revive stalled peace efforts by easing tensions and addressing some of the conflict’s most painful legacies.
For thousands of Yemeni families still searching for missing loved ones, the deals offer a rare measure of hope after years of uncertainty.