Rebels and Saudi-led coalition swap prisoners

A Saudi-led military coalition said on Monday it had completed a prisoner swap in Yemen, exchanging nine Saudi prisoners for 109 Yemeni nationals ahead of a planned truce and peace talks aimed at ending the year-long war with Houthi rebels.
The prisoner swap coincided with fresh air strikes by both the coalition and by U.S. warplanes on Islamist militants in southern Yemen.
The coalition did not say which group the swap was made with, but the Houthi movement said on Sunday it had exchanged prisoners with its enemy Riyadh as a first step toward ending a humanitarian crisis prompted by the war.
The Iran-allied Houthis have been battling forces loyal to Yemen’s Saudi-backed President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi since last March in a conflict that has cost more than 6,200 lives. Yemeni media said the nine Saudis were soldiers. The freed Yemenis had been detained during operations in Yemen.