Some 200 Yemeni soldiers were killed and over 1,000 taken prisoner by the Iran-backed Houthis (Ansarallah) in an August offensive near the Saudi border, a government source and the Houthis said Sunday (September 29th).
The three-day offensive was launched August 25th, Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree said, showing footage purportedly of the attack.
The Yemeni government source confirmed that some 200 soldiers had been killed in the attack, AFP reported.
The government source estimated the number of prisoners taken by the Houthis was "about 1,300 soldiers", including 280 wounded.
Yemeni troops had been surrounded for four days by the Houthis in the militia's northern stronghold of Saada province, the government source said.
On Monday, the International Committee of the Red Cross said the Houthis had freed 290 prisoners, but none of those captured in August were among them.
UN special envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths said he hoped Monday's move would "lead to further initiatives that will facilitate the exchange of all the conflict-related detainees as per the Stockholm Agreement" of 2018.
He called on all parties to work together to speed prisoner releases, saying they and their families had "endured profound pain and suffering".
