Islamic State jihadists free 19 of the 220 Assyrian Christians they took hostage in Syria last week, after a ransom was paid for their release, activists say.
“Nineteen Assyrian hostages arrived on Sunday at the Church of Our Lady in Hasakeh after they were released by IS,” says Osama Edward, the director of the Assyrian Network for Human Rights.
“They arrived on two buses from Shaddadeh,” the IS stronghold in the northeastern province of Hasakeh where they had been detained, he tells AFP.
Edward says an IS religious court decided on Saturday to release the Christians in exchange for a sum of money for each family that IS considers as jizya — tax — paid by non-Muslims.
He is unable to say how much was paid, but recalled that in November IS released Assyrians after receiving payments of $1,700 per person.
The activist says negotiations for the release of all hostages began on Saturday between Assyrian officials and Arab Muslim tribal chiefs.
— AFP
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