Saudis free 200 Yemeni rebels as part of peace efforts

A Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen says it has released 200 Houthi rebels as part of a U.N.-brokered deal aimed at ending the war in the Arab world’s poorest country

A Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen says it has released 200 Houthi rebels to advance a U.N.-brokered deal aimed at ending the war in the Arab world’s poorest country.

Saudi Arabia’s state-run news agency quoted coalition spokesman Col. Turki al-Malki as saying Tuesday that the move was aimed at paving the way for a larger and long-delayed prisoner swap agreed upon last year.

Al-Malki says the coalition will also work with the U.N. to fly patients out of the rebel-held capital, Sanaa, for treatment abroad.

The coalition has been battling the Iran-backed rebels since 2015. The war has killed tens of thousands of people and generated the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

The two sides signed a U.N.-brokered peace deal in Sweden last December but have yet to implement it.