The International Committee of the Red Cross said 318 detainees from both sides of the Yemen conflict were released on Friday, as part of a three-day release set to see nearly 900 prisoners return home.
"Fathers, sons, brothers, will see home … many for the first time in time in years, and they will be in time to celebrate Eid with their families, and we all know that it is a very important moment in Yemen and in Saudi Arabia," Fabrizio Carboni, the ICRC's regional director for the Near and Middle East, told reporters in a briefing call.
At the end of next week, Muslim's will mark the end of their daily fasting during the holy month of Ramadan with the Eid al-Fitr celebration.
The ICRC is managing the release between the Iranian-aligned Houthi rebels and a Saudi-led coalition supporting the Yemeni government, which have been fighting a war since 2015.
Carboni said the ICRC helped detainees phone home on Friday, some speaking to their families for the first time in a long time.
"It was clear from the joy, the emotion in their voice how valuable it was for them to hear the voice of their mothers or their wives or their daughters or sons," Carboni said.
The ICRC said 318 detainees were repatriated to Yemen and Saudi Arabia on four flights Friday between Houthi-held Sana'a and government-controlled Aden. All received medical checks before their departure.
The release follows negotiations last month in Switzerland between the parties in collaboration with the ICRC and the United Nations under what is known as the Stockholm Agreement. The parties are set to meet again in May to discuss the release of more detainees.
"Thousands more families are still waiting to be reunited with their loved ones," said U.N. Special Envoy Hans Grundberg, who welcomed the initial release. "I hope the parties build on the success of this operation to fulfill the commitment they made to the Yemeni people in the Stockholm Agreement to release all conflict-related detainees and bring this suffering to an end."
Hopes are growing in the region following a diplomatic rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran that the eight-year-long war in Yemen could soon end. The two regional powers are engaged in a proxy war in the country.
A truce between the warring parties agreed to a year ago was renewed twice, but expired in October when the Houthis did not agree to extend it. Despite that, fighting has eased considerably.
The country remains one of the biggest humanitarian emergencies in the world, with more than 23 million people in need of assistance, 17 million of whom are food insecure. Last year, aid agencies assisted 11 million Yemenis each month.
