Actually, freed the Northern Kingdom Israelites. The Southern Kingdom, remnants of which in another hundred years or so would become known as Jews, were still back in Canaan, awaiting their own capture and removal to Babylon and subsequent diapora.
To be even more accurate, the Northern Kingdom Israelites joined with the Medes and Persians to overthrow the Assyrians. They participated in their own freedom.
After the victory these Israelites "took counsel among themselves" and decided to NOT return to Canaan. Instead, they decided to get out of Dodge the only other way possible, to the North through the Caucasus Mountains (from which comes their name Caucasians) and West around the southern coast of the Black Sea.
This was a fortuitous decision, for if they had returned to join their Southern Kingdom cousins in Judea they probably would have been caught up in the Babylonian conquest and history would read a whole lot different. (They might even have been called Jews, like their cousins, since they would have come from Judea [or thereabouts]). {ggg}.