SYRIAN Arab Army forces liberated 19 Druze women and children from the clutches of Isis yesterday in a swift operation which saw a number of jihadists killed.

Syrian military sources described the operation as “heroic and accurate” as soldiers engaged in direct contact with a group of terrorist organisations, freeing 19 people after “a fierce battle” in the Hamima area east of the historic town of Palmyra.

Images broadcast on state television showed the liberated women and children arriving home in Sweida province after they had been pictured receiving bread and water from the Syrian army. 

The 19 women and children were part of a group of 30 kidnapped by the jihadist group in July during an assault on villages in the province which saw at least 250 people killed.

It is believed to have been the largest attack on Syria’s minority Druze community during the seven-year war.

Last month the Syrian army freed four women and two children who were part of the group held captive.

Isis claimed that a number of those kidnapped, including two children who tried to escape, had been killed.

Druze community leader Sheikh Akl Hammoud Yahya al-Hinnawi told Syrian state television that the liberation was a “victory for the Syrian people” and saluted the heroism of the army.

Head of the Lebanese Democratic Party Talal Arslan said today that the operation proved that the army is Syria’s guarantee of victory over terrorism.

Syrian government forces have retaken control of large parts of Syria with operations underway in the last jihadist stronghold in Idlib province.