Saudi Arabia says it has exchanged prisoners with its foes in
Yemen’s Houthi movement and that a calm was holding along their border, in
signs of unprecedented progress to end their 11-month war.

The statement on state news
agency SPA said Yemeni tribal mediators had facilitated the release of seven
Yemenis held by the kingdom in exchange for a detained Saudi lieutenant.

An
alliance of mostly Sunni and Arab countries launched air strikes and a ground
offensive against the Houthis on March 26 after an armed offensive by the
Iran-allied group pushed Yemen’s internationally backed government into exile.

The conflict had fallen into a
stalemate, in which the Houthis still control the capital Sanaa and other major
cities in central Yemen while its hardened guerrilla forces shelled and harassed Saudi forces along Yemen’s rugged northern
frontier.

Saudi state
news said the prisoner initiative was launched by Yemeni tribal figures to
reduce the violence in the border area and facilitate delivery of badly needed
aid, and that the apparent truce could help end the conflict.

“The
leadership of the coalition forces welcomed the continuation of a state of calm
along the border … which contributes to arriving at a political
solution,” SPA reported.

On Tuesday, two officials from a
Houthi-run government body in Yemen told Reuters that senior representatives of
the group had arrived in Saudi Arabia for peace talks.

The United Nations says nearly 6000
people have been killed in Yemen’s fighting. Hundreds of thousands have been
displaced.

– Reuters