CRI听力:IS Releases 19 Abducted Christian Assyrians

The Islamic State has reportedly released 19 Christian Assyrians who are among the more than 220 people the militant group took captive in northeastern Syria last week.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the militants released the captives after reportedly putting them before a Sharia court.

However, the rationale behind why the group was released hasn't been made clear.

All those released are said to be around 50 years of age or older.

More than 200 Assyrians remain in the hands of the Islamic State, and are reportedly awaiting trial before the Sharia courts.

Meanwhile, Syrian and Iraqi Assyrian Christians, living in Damascus, have held a mass to pray for the release of the remaining Assyrians.

"We ask the kidnappers of the Assyrian families to release them as soon as possible. We are in the age of humanity, not barbarity. The barbarity age has ended."

The Assyrians were taken captive during an Islamic State assault in Syria's northeast.

It's being reported Assyrian leaders and Sunni tribal sheikhs have begun reaching out to the Islamic State group to try to negotiate their release.

Last year, Islamic State fighters abducted several Assyrians in retaliation for fighting alongside the Kurdish peshmerga.

Most were released after a long series of negotiations.

The Assyrians are a group of people living in eastern Syria and northwestern Iraq who can trace their roots back to ancient Mesopotamia.

Large numbers of Assyrians became converted to Christianity during the Crusades in the middle-ages.