ISIS releases 19 Assyrian Christian hostages

ISIS militants in northern Syria released 19 Assyrian Christian hostages Sunday, an activist group said.

According to the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, all but one of the hostages were among the at least 220 Assyrians captured on February 23 during an attack on villages in the northern Syrian province of al-Hasakah.

The Syrian Observatory had said previously that a self-proclaimed ISIS court ordered the release of 29 Assyrian Christian hostages, citing an Assyrian commander.

The reasoning behind the release was not immediately clear. It was also not clear why only 19 people were let go Sunday.

The “court” told the commander that the fate of the other kidnapped Assyrians has yet to be decided by ISIS Sharia jurists.