SANAA, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Yemeni government and the Houthi rebels exchanged 135 prisoners through a tribal mediation in the country's southwestern province of Taiz on Thursday, officials from both sides said.
A total of "75 soldiers and 60 rebels" were set free, a government military official in Taiz told Xinhua by phone on condition of anonymity.
Abdulkadir al-Murtada, head of the Houthi national committee for prisoners, said in a statement that the deal came following months-long efforts by the local tribal mediation.
The swap took place in al-Akrouth area of al-Misrakh district in the southeast of Taiz.
Previous mediation had succeeded in achieving several swap deals between the two sides.
The United Nations is trying to resume peace talks between the Yemeni warring parties to end the more than four years of war.
Taiz, the second most populated province in Yemen, is about 156 km south of Houthi-held capital Sanaa.
The government forces control much of the province, while Houthi rebels surround it from the top of the mountains.
Yemen has been mired in a civil war since late 2014 after the Houthi rebels overran the capital Sanaa and forced the internationally-recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi into exile.
