Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia released over a dozen Houthi rebel war prisoners in exchange for a Saudi prisoner as part of a UN-brokered deal Yemen's warring parties struck last month. A Saudi-led coalition has long supported Yemen's government while Houthi rebels are backed by Iran and the country has effectively been the site of a proxy war. The Houthis seized Sanaa and much of the country's north in 2014, ousting the internationally recognised government that fled south and then into exile in Saudi Arabia