A hard-won prisoner exchange between the Yemeni government and Huthi rebels began Thursday with the departure from the rebel-held capital Sanaa of a planeload of freed soldiers, an AFP correspondent reported. The exchange, agreed after a week of negotiations in Switzerland last month, involves the release of 1,081 prisoners over two days, the largest number since the conflict erupted in 2014. Planes are also due to depart from the Yemeni government-held city of Seiyun and the Saudi city of Sabha in a complex operation overseen by the International Committee of the Red Cross, rebel officials said. bur/mh/kir/dwo