U.N. Peacekeepers Locked in Standoff With Syrian Rebels

By Ben Hubbard and Floyd Whaley, New York Times

 29 August 2014

 Another contingent of United Nations peacekeepers was caught in a standoff with Syrian rebels on Friday, a day after an armed group captured 43 peacekeepers in the area near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

The confrontation on Friday involved 75 Filipino soldiers serving in the United Nations mission along the demarcation line between Syria and the Golan Heights. The trouble there started after rebels, including the Syrian branch of Al Qaeda, seized control of the only border crossing in the area from the Syrian Army on Wednesday.

A day later, the United Nations said that 43 peacekeepers from Fiji had been captured and that about 80 others had been confined to their bases because of continued fighting in the area. Then on Friday, the Philippine military said that in two places, its soldiers were in a standoff with rebels who had tried to storm their positions the day before.

A Philippine military spokesman, Brig. Gen. Domingo Tutaan, said in Manila that after rebels captured the Fijian contingent, they sent two messengers to the peacekeepers bearing demands that the Filipinos surrender their weapons. The general said the soldiers did not comply, and were prepared to defend their positions, as they are permitted to do under their United Nations mandate.

“They have appropriate provisions, both in terms of personal needs, food and ammunition,” General Tutaan said. “They can last there for a good number of days.”

So far, he said, there had been no direct clashes between the Filipino soldiers and the rebel fighters, and the United Nations and the Philippine military said they were working to resolve the situation.

A number of rebel groups that seek to topple President Bashar al-Assad of Syria are fighting his forces near the Golan Heights. Fighters from the Nusra Front, the Syrian affiliate of Al Qaeda, were among those who seized the crossing point on Wednesday. The even more radical Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, did not appear to be involved.

No rebel group has yet claimed publicly to have captured the Fijians, but antigovernment activists said they were most likely in the hands of the Nusra Front.

It was not clear why the rebels captured the peacekeepers. In the past, the Nusra Front has demanded ransom payments in exchange for freeing hostages, but no such demand has been received. Some activists suggested that the Nusra Front wanted the captives not for ransom but as human shields, holding them to deter the Syrian government for shelling and bombing the area.

Rebel groups have captured United Nations peacekeepers in the Golan Heights area before, only to later release them unharmed.

The peacekeepers serve in the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force, which also includes personnel from India, Ireland, Nepal and the Netherlands. It has been monitoring a cease-fire and military disengagement agreement between Israel and Syria in the area since 1974.

Featured Image: United Nations peacekeepers keep watch in the Golan Heights on the border between Israel and Syria. On Friday, 75 Filipino soldiers serving in the United Nations mission along the demarcation line were confronted by rebels affiliated with al Qaeda. Copyright 2014, Atef Safadi/European Pressphoto Agency

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