"Daesh [ISIL] released 22 people from our community. These are mainly elderly men and women. They are among those kidnapped by militants in February during an attack on an Assyrian village on the Khabur river [in Syria's Al-Hasakah region]," the spokesman told RIA Novosti.
In late February, ISIL militants took control over 33 Christian villages in the northeastern Syrian Al-Hasakah region, abducting about 300 residents. The extremists released nine people the following month.
Last week, the militants kidnapped 230 more Assyrians during an offensive to seize the town of Al-Quaryatayn in the Syrian province of Homs.
Over 15,000 Assyrian Christian families remain at risk in Syria amid the ongoing crisis, according to the Assyrian Church of the East in Lebanon.
The ISIL extremist group has seized vast territories in Syria and Iraq in recent years. The militants are notorious for their atrocities, including abductions and executions of religious minorities.
