Yemen's warring factions agreed on Tuesday to release thousands of prisoners in what would be the largest swap since civil war erupted in the country more than a decade ago. The deal provides for the exchange of about 2,900 prisoners between the Houthi rebels and Yemen's internationally recognized government, according to Abdul Qader al-Mortada, the Houthi official overseeing prisoner affairs.

The agreement was reached after 12 days of closed-door talks in Oman, a leading mediator in the Yemen civil war. Al-Mortada announced the deal in a statement on social media, saying, "We signed an agreement with the other party to implement a broad exchange deal involving 1,700 of our prisoners in exchange for 1,200 of their prisoners, including 7 Saudis and 23 Sudanese."

The prisoner swap was brokered by the United Nations and the Red Cross, international organizations that have been working to bring an end to the conflict in Yemen. The war, which began in late 2014 when the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, has largely settled into a stalemate since a 2022 truce. Yemen was already one of the poorest countries in the world before the war began, and the fighting has killed hundreds of thousands of civilians and exacerbated a dire humanitarian crisis.

The conflict drew the involvement of other countries in the region, such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which have been providing military support to Yemen's government. The international community has been calling for a peaceful resolution to the conflict, and the prisoner swap is seen as a positive step towards that goal.

The prisoner swap is also a significant development in the context of the region's complex web of alliances and rivalries. The involvement of Saudi Arabia and the UAE in the conflict has been a major factor in the war's escalation, and the prisoner swap may be seen as a way to reduce tensions between these countries and the Houthi rebels.

The current status of the prisoner swap is that the exchange is expected to take place in the coming weeks, although the exact timing has not been announced. The deal is seen as a significant breakthrough in the peace process, and international organizations are calling for continued efforts to bring an end to the conflict in Yemen.