Saudis release 7 Huthi prisoners in swap deal

Yemen's warring parties are still hammering out details of a larger prisoner exchange that is meant to serves as confidence-boosting measure for talks to end the war.

DUBAI - Saudi Arabia released seven prisoners it was holding from Yemen's Huthi movement, who were flown to the Huthi-controlled capital Sanaa on Wednesday by the Red Cross, the day after a Saudi prisoner freed by the Huthis arrived in Riyadh.

The apparent swap comes as Yemen's warring parties are still hammering out details of a larger prisoner exchange that they agreed last month as a confidence-building gesture at the first major peace talks of the nearly four-year-old war.

The UN special envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffiths, welcomed the release and said he hoped it would encourage the rapid implementation of the larger prisoner swap.

"The [special envoy] is very encouraged by this positive spirit from the two parties," his office said on Twitter.

The war pits the Iran-aligned Huthis who control the capital Sanaa and most population centres against a government now based in the southern port of Aden, backed by forces from Arab states.

The International Committee of the Red Cross, which provided the planes for both the freed Saudi and the seven freed Yemenis, said in a statement it had acted as a neutral intermediary and was not involved in negotiations over the releases.

"We are delighted these persons will soon be home," Yahia Alibi, head of the ICRC Regional delegation in Kuwait, said in a statement. "We stand ready to act as a neutral intermediary so that thousands more affected by this conflict can return to their families."

The United Nations is pushing for the warring parties to carry out the agreed prisoner exchange and implement a ceasefire in the main port city of Hodeidah to pave the way for a second round of discussions to end the war.

Meanwhile, the Saudi-led coalition announced Wednesday it shot down a "hostile" drone launched by the Huthis over the city of Abha in the kingdom's southwest.

Saudi air defences "tracked an unidentified object (over) the city of Abha and dealt with it in accordance with the rules of engagement," coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Maliki said in a statement published by the official Saudi Press Agency.

Coalition specialists who analysed the debris ruled it was a "hostile Huthi drone with Iranian specifications and characteristics", he added.

The coalition announced on January 20 it had "destroyed" seven rebel targets, including drone facilities, near Yemen's insurgent-held capital Sanaa.

Riyadh and its allies accuse Iran of supplying the rebels with weapons -- a charge Tehran denies.

A rebel drone attack earlier this month targeting a military parade at Yemen's largest air base killed a high-ranking Yemeni intelligence official.

The war between the Huthis and pro-government troops escalated in March 2015, when President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi fled into exile in Riyadh and a Saudi-led military coalition intervened.

Since then, the conflict has killed some 10,000 people and unleashed the world's worst humanitarian crisis, according to the United Nations.