The Houthis released four government troops in exchange for 10 prisoners of their own on Tuesday, according to an official at the Ministry of Defence, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The four government troops released were members of the Bayhan military axis in the Third Military Region in the town of Harib in Marib governorate.

Abdulkader Al-Murtada, head of the Houthis' prisoner affairs committee, confirmed that 10 of their captives had also been freed in the exchange. It's unclear where the Houthi fighters had been captured. 

The operation was carried out through tribal mediators in Shabwa, according to Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV. 

Tribal mediation has played a central role in securing the release of detainees throughout the five-year war. Despite the creation of a UN-sponsored prisoner exchange initiative last year under the Stockholm agreement, UN Special Envoy Martin Griffiths hasn't managed to free any of the approximately 15,000 prisoners and abductees identified by the Houthis and the internationally recognized Yemeni government.