Syrian army frees 19 Druze women and children held by ISIS

The hostages were abducted by ISIS in Sweida, a city in the southwest of Syria, in July, the state-run SANA reports.

epa07130757 Members of the Druze community hold Syrian and Druze flags as they protest outside an Israeli polling center during local elections in the Druze village of Majdal Shams, in the Golan Heights, 30 October 2018. Hundreds of the Druze community gathered outside an Israeli polling center, set for the first since Israel captured Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 war, to protest against holding the elections in their village that would allow about 12 percent of the Druze community who hold Israeli citizenship to vote in the Israeli local elections.  EPA/ATEF SAFADI
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The Syrian Army has freed 19 women and children from ISIS, Syrian State Media says.

The hostages were abducted by ISIS in Sweida, a city in the southwest of Syria, in July, the state-run SANA reports.

The militant group, which lost most of its territory in Syria last year, seized around 27 people when it rampaged through Sweida from a desert enclave outside the city, killing more than 200 people and detonating suicide vests.

The hostages were freed in an area northeast of the desert city of Palmyra after the army fought with ISIS militants in what state television described as "a precise operation". It did not say when the fighting took place.

Sweida, which is under state rule, has a mainly Druze religious community. Druze authorities and ISIS have held negotiations for the release of the hostages.

Last month, ISIS released six of the Druze hostages seized in July in a prisoner swap and $27 million ransom.

Two of the hostages were executed by ISIS. ISIS executed a 19-year-old male student in August and a 25-year-old female captive in early October. The group said a 65-year-old female captive also died after becoming ill.

Families of the abducted led a series of protests outside government offices in Sweida to demand more should be done.

In July, ISIS killed more than 200 people and took 27 hostages in Sweida, one of the biggest single massacres in the war.

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