Yemen’s Houthi rebels release six foreign hostages

SANAA, Yemen Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels have released six foreign hostages after months in captivity, an official in the rebel movement said Sunday.

The hostages left the rebel-held Yemeni capital Sanaa for Oman aboard a plane with a Houthi team, according to the official.

They were released through Omani mediation, the official added on condition of anonymity.

He did not identify their nationalities or say why they had been seized.

Oman said that the hostages were two Americans, one Briton and three Saudi nationals. They flew into Oman’s capital Muscat from Sanaa aboard an Omani plane, the Gulf sultanate’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by the official news agency.

Their release came through Omani efforts, the statement added.

In Washington, the White House said two U.S. detainees had been released and they were met by the U.S. ambassador to Muscat.

U.S. National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said the U.S. was “deeply” appreciative of those involved in the negotiations that led to the release, in particular the government of Oman and Sultan Qaboos bin Said al-Said.

According to Saudi-owned broadcaster Al Arabiya, the six had been held for six months by the rebels in Sanaa.

In March, Saudi Arabia and its fellow Sunni partners began an air campaign in Yemen after the mostly Shiite rebels advanced on the southern city of Aden, forcing internationally recognized President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi to flee the country.

Oman is not a member of the Saudi-led military coalition and has hosted several indirect talks in recent months aimed at ending the Yemeni conflict.

Saudi Arabia has vowed not to stop the campaign until Hadi, a Sunni, is reinstated.

The president is currently in Saudi Arabia.

The rebels’ leader, Abdel-Malek al-Houthi on Sunday called on his loyalists to continue fighting against what he called “aggression on the Yemeni people.”

In a televised address aired on the pro-Houthi al-Masirah TV, he called for mass demonstrations in Sanaa on Monday, marking the first anniversary of his movement’s takeover of the city.

“Big sacrifices are necessary because a loss resulting from submission will be greater,” al-Houthi said.

The rebels have suffered setbacks by pro-government forces, backed by the Saudi-led coalition, in recent months.

In June, Hadi loyalists drove the Houthis out of Aden and have since intensified the fight to recapture other rebel-controlled areas in Yemen.

In recent weeks, the coalition has stepped up its air campaign against rebels’ positions in Sanaa and other parts of Yemen.

On Sunday, at least 15 people were killed and 50 wounded in two airstrikes by the allied jets against a rebel stronghold in western Yemen, a security official said.

The bombing targeted a rebel-held security building housing a prison in the province of Ibb, around 193 kilometers south of Sanaa.

“Following the first air raid, security men evacuated dozens of prisoners from the building,” the official said. “The second raid completely destroyed the building.”

Policemen, prisoners and civilians who happened to be in the building were among the dead and injured.

No comment was given by the coalition.

More than 4,500 people have been killed in Yemen’s conflict since March, U.N. agencies said.

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