First commercial flight in years takes off from Yemen's Sanaa

Earlier, the plane had arrived in Sanaa from the southern port city of Aden to pick up the passengers

The first commercial flight in six years took off from Yemen's rebel-held capital on Monday, officials said, part of a fragile truce in the county's grinding civil war.

The Yemen Airways flight, with 151 passengers on board, was bound for Jordan's capital of Amman, according to media outlets run by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

Earlier, the plane had arrived in Sanaa from the southern port city of Aden to pick up the passengers.

On touchdown, it was welcomed by a ceremonial “water salute,” according to a video posted online by the national carrier.

The Houthi media office said a return flight was expected back in Sanaa from Amman later Monday.

The flight is part of the U.N. brokered, 60-day truce agreement that the internationally recognized government and the Houthi rebels struck last month.

The truce, which went into effect on April 2, is the first nationwide cease-fire in Yemen in six years.