The UN Special Envoy to Yemen, Hans Grundberg, and the two warring parties in Yemen – the internationally recognized government and the Ansar Allah group (Houthis) – announced on Thursday the signing in Amman, Jordan, of an agreement encompassing the largest prisoner exchange deal between the two sides, following a 90-day round of negotiations. While some observers considered the agreed-upon number a step back from the "Muscat 2" agreement, the government statement clarified that what was achieved today represents the first phase of implementing the "Muscat 2" agreement, which stipulated the release of 2,900 prisoners and detainees from both sides.
Conflicting data emerged today regarding the number of those released in this deal, as well as the number of coalition prisoners. While the government and coalition statement announced that the agreement stipulates the release of 1,750 prisoners and detainees from both sides, including 27 from the coalition, the deputy head of the government negotiating delegation, Yahya Kazman, said on the X platform that the number was 1,728. Meanwhile, the Ansar Allah group announced that the agreement includes 1,680 prisoners and detainees, including 27 Saudi and Sudanese prisoners.
In a statement issued by the United Nations, the Special Envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, announced that the parties had reached an agreement yesterday to release more than 1,600 detainees related to the conflict.
This figure was deemed “unprecedented in the history of the current conflict in Yemen,” noting that it “is the fruit of 14 weeks of intensive negotiations held under the auspices of the United Nations in Amman, Jordan.” Grundberg said, “This is a moment of immense relief for the thousands of Yemenis who have endured the agonizing wait for the return of their loved ones. The tireless struggle and courage of the detainees’ families have been instrumental in reaching this moment.”
He added that this agreement “is clear evidence of what can be achieved through sustained and serious negotiations. It proves that when parties choose to engage in dialogue, they are able to address the priorities that burden Yemeni families and build the necessary trust to serve the broader peace process.”
He went on to commend “the parties for their good faith and dedication to these negotiations for several weeks, despite a period marked by exceptional regional complexities. I also encourage them to build on today’s results and carry out further releases, including on a unilateral basis.”
Today’s agreement builds on a previous round of negotiations held in Muscat, Oman, in December 2025.
Grundberg stated that "the parties also agreed to meet again regarding further releases, to conduct joint visits to their respective detention facilities, and to ensure access to all detainees."
The UN envoy said: “I also express my deep solidarity with all those arbitrarily detained and their families, including UN, NGO, civil society and diplomatic mission staff arbitrarily detained by Ansar Allah.”
The supervisory committee tasked with implementing the agreement on the release of detainees was established under the 2018 Stockholm Agreement, in which the parties pledged to release all detainees related to the conflict on a "all for all" basis. A statement issued by the government and coalition negotiating delegation on the detainees file announced "reaching an agreement to release approximately 1,750 detainees from various parties, including 27 from the Arab Coalition."
He explained that this negotiation track started from Muscat on December 11, 2025, after a grueling round that lasted a whole month,” noting that what was signed with their release today comes within the framework of the first phase of the agreement.
He said that the last round came to implement what was agreed upon in Muscat, which began with “a round of indirect negotiations in Riyadh, which lasted for a full month, during which the parties established solid technical and procedural frameworks for exchanging statements and strengthening the path of understanding. Following this, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan hosted a round of direct consultations, which extended for ninety (90) consecutive days from February 5 to May 6, 2026.”
He noted that the efforts culminated in the signing of the lists and the implementation mechanism, a step he considered "a real transformation and a tangible breakthrough in this complex humanitarian issue."
Meanwhile, Abdul Qader al-Murtada, head of the National Committee for Prisoners' Affairs in the Ansar Allah government, explained in a post on the X platform that the negotiations on the prisoners' file in the Jordanian capital were completed "with the signing of the lists of prisoners and detainees, numbering 1,100 from our side and 580 from the other side, including seven Saudi prisoners and 20 Sudanese prisoners." He indicated that "implementation will take place after the International Committee of the Red Cross completes its procedures."
Ansar Allah’s chief negotiator, Mohammed Abdul Salam, wrote on the X platform that “based on the Sweden agreement, and with God Almighty’s help, the final lists of prisoners and detainees were signed in the Jordanian capital, Amman, in accordance with the agreement concluded in the Sultanate of Oman in December 2025, and we express our appreciation for the efforts of the UN envoy and everyone who contributed to the completion of this round.”
Regarding Mohammed Qahtan, a political prisoner held by the Houthis since 2015, the Yemeni state news agency Saba reported that "the agreement stipulates the formation of a joint committee, including his family, to travel to Sana'a to ascertain his fate and take the necessary measures, with the International Committee of the Red Cross acting as a neutral mediator, prior to the release of detainees." It added, "The agreement also stipulates reciprocal visits to prisons and detention centers in the second phase, following the release of detainees."
The issue of prisoners and detainees in Yemen resulting from the current war is one of the most complex issues, due to the two sides’ failure to reach an agreement that would close this humanitarian file and end the suffering of thousands of families who have been waiting for years for their relatives to be released from prisons.
Since the signing of the Stockholm Agreement between the two parties to the conflict in 2018, which stipulated the release of all prisoners and detainees according to the "all for all" principle, the agreement has not been fully implemented, and negotiations have been made on partial agreements.
The joint supervisory committee for this file has held 11 rounds so far, the last of which was recently concluded in the Jordanian capital, Amman.
The tenth round of negotiations on this issue, which was hosted by the Omani capital Muscat during the period of December 9-23, jointly chaired by the UN Special Envoy to Yemen, Hans Grundberg, and the International Committee of the Red Cross, ended with an agreement stipulating the release of 1,700 Houthi prisoners and 1,200 government prisoners, including the politician Mohammed Qahtan, who is detained by the Houthis.
According to the Houthi movement, the Muscat 2 agreement includes "the retrieval and handover of bodies from all fronts and areas by all parties, under the auspices and supervision of the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross." The signing of the Muscat 2 agreement came after the failure of the eighth round of negotiations in Amman and the ninth round in Muscat.
Of the previous rounds, only two succeeded in reaching an exchange deal. The first was in 2020, and it consisted of 1,026 prisoners, and the second was in 2023, and it consisted of about 800 prisoners, while other exchange deals succeeded through tribal mediation, and prisoners were released through unilateral initiatives.The agreement announced today comes amid Yemen’s deepening crisis in various issues, some of which are about to take the country far further. The news of the signing of the agreement after 90 days of negotiations in the eleventh round gives Yemenis a new, albeit small, hope that the country can overcome the impasse of the senseless war, whenever the parties come together and compromise, according to observers.
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