SANA’A (Dispatches) – Yemen’s Sana’a-based government has released a military commander backed the Saudi-led coalition who had been detained for eight years, an official announced in a statement.
Faisal Rajab, a commander in the Saudi-backed forces, was released after a request was made by a tribal delegation from his hometown in the southern province of Abyan.
Abdulkadir al-Murtada, head of the prisoner affairs’ committee, confirmed Rajab’s release in a statement during a press conference held in the Yemeni capital of Sana’a.
“With the release of the prisoner, Major General Faisal Rajab, we confirm our readiness for a (future) comprehensive prisoner swap,” al-Murtada said, urging the United Nations (UN) to “expedite the implementation of the prisoner exchange deal that was agreed upon in Switzerland.”
Rajab was seen being handed over to the tribal delegation during the press conference.
While welcoming Rajab’s release, Majid Fadail, the spokesman for the negotiating delegation, tweeted that Rajab was originally supposed to be released as part of the UN-brokered prisoner swap deal implemented in mid-April.
Rajab was captured in March 2015 after Ansarullah forces stormed the al-Anad Air Base in the southern province of Lahij. His name appeared on a list of around 900 prisoners who were freed in a three-day prisoner exchange in mid-April.
Yemen’s warring sides have expressed readiness for the next round of talks to end the war in the Arab state.
Saudi Arabia invaded Yemen in March 2015 in collaboration with a number of its allies and with arms and logistical support from the United States and several other Western states.
The objective was to return power to Yemen’s former Riyadh-backed regime and crush the popular Ansarullah resistance movement, which has been running state affairs in the absence of a functional government in Yemen.
While the Saudi-led coalition has failed to achieve its objectives, the war has killed hundreds of thousands of Yemenis and spawned the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.