Yemen frees members of Iran Revolutionary Guards-sources

Yemen freed at least three suspected Iranian Revolutionary Guard members on Thursday who had been held for months over alleged ties to a Shi’ite Muslim insurgent group that has seized control of much of the capital Sanaa, a senior official said.

 
The takeover by the Shi’ite Houthi rebels came hours before a power-sharing accord was signed with other political parties providing for the creation of a new government.

Yemen frees members of Iran Revolutionary Guards-sources, Iran, IRGC, Yemen, Arab Country, Iran Revolutionary Guards, Hezbollah, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi
Yemen frees members of Iran Revolutionary Guards-sources

That effectively made the Houthis the main power brokers in Yemen, a U.S.-allied country whose political, tribal and sectarian turmoil poses risks to No. 1 oil exporter Saudi Arabia next door.

It was not immediately clear why the release, which the official said was originally part of a deal to stem the Houthi advance on Sanaa, went ahead. But it suggested the Shi’ite group was now dictating terms in the capital.

The release of the Iranians came a day after Yemen freed two suspected members of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group, the official said. They had been held for two to three years in the southern port city of Aden where they had been captured on suspicion of planning to provide military training to the Houthis, he said.

Oman, which maintains good ties with Iran and had helped free Iranians held in the West in the past, helped in the release, the official said.

“The Iranians were freed and handed over to the Omani mediators,” the official, who declined to be identified, told Reuters. He said the men were freed in Aden.

Another Yemeni source confirmed that President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi personally ordered the release on Omani mediation. No comment was immediately available from Omani or Iranian officials.

Several Arab newspapers, including the London-based al-Quds al-Arabi, had reported that the suspected Hezbollah and Revolutionary Guard members were detained earlier this year on suspicion of spying and providing training and logistical support for the Houthis.

 

Source : Yemen frees members of Iran Revolutionary Guards-sources

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