BEIRUT (Dispatches) – Six hostages were freed on Saturday from Daesh, which has held several women and children captive since it attacked Syria’s Sweida city three months ago, state media and a monitor said.
Daesh terrorists staged multiple attacks in Sweida and overran nearby villages in southwestern Syria on July 25, killing more than 200 people, many of them civilians.
Sweida, which is under state rule, has a mainly Druze community. Druze authorities and the Daesh have held negotiations for the release of the hostages.
Syrian state news agency SANA said two women and four children returned home on Saturday after being kidnapped from a village east of Sweida city.
"As a result of the army’s siege on the terrorists, and efforts by the concerned entities, six of the 29 hostages were freed, and the rest will be freed very soon,” SANA cited Sweida Governor Amer al-Eshi as saying.
Daesh terrorists were holding at least 16 children among its captives in the Sweida desert and had beheaded one hostage, Human Rights Watch said in August.
Syrian government forces, backed by Russia and Iran, have been battling the terrorists in a small Daesh enclave northeast of Sweida city.
The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitoring group, said the terrorists released the first group of hostages after talks with local authorities.
Pro-government forces had amassed heavily around the Daesh pocket to pressure the terrorists, it said.