CRI听力:300 Kidnapped Kurds in Syria Freed by Islamist Rebels

Islamist rebel fighters have released some 300 Kurdish men who had been taken captive in northwest Syria.

Reports say the men were seized from buses travelling from the town of Afrin to the city of Aleppo.

Initial reports suggest a splinter faction known as Jaysh al-Islam, or the Army of Islam, took the hostages, who were later released as part of a prisoner swap.

These reports have not been confirmed.

Meanwhile, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi says his government is planning to work more tightly with Kurdish authorities to help liberate the northern province of Nineveh in Iraq from the Islamic State.

"There's a small group attempting to attach itself to the (Shi'ite fighters known as) Hashid Shaabi and attack civilians and their belongings and offend the Hahsid Shaabi. Our measures include the arrest of these people and presenting them to court and indeed, we have done so in Tikrit, where we have arrested a few of those people and presented them to court."

A timetable for a plan to retake Nineveh hasn't been laid out.

The provincial capital, Mosul, is a key target for Iraqi forces hoping to clear the country of Islamic State fighters.

It's expected the assault on Nineveh could begin within the next few weeks.