A group of Iraqi women and children from the Izadi minority, who were freed earlier this week after five years of captivity at the hands of the ISIL Takfiri terrorist group in neighboring Syria, have been reunited with their families in Iraq.

Overjoyed families met their loved ones at a rural truck stop on the road linking the Kurdish-populated northern Iraqi town of Sinjar to Dohuk city on Saturday.

Few parents were there to welcome their children as many of them are still missing in territories being held by ISIL, or have been confirmed killed. A number of Izadi parents have already sought asylum in Western nations, in the hope that their children will be able to join them one day.

The group of three Izadi women and 18 children crossed into Iraq from Syria on Friday. They were among thousands of civilians who fled the last vestige of ISIL’s territorial rule at the besieged eastern Syrian village of Baghouz near the Iraqi border.