Syria rebels hold UN peacekeepers

World condemns spillover of civil war onto armistice line with Israel

Syrian rebels kept 21 UN peacekeepers hostage on the Golan Heights on Thursday despite world condemnation of the spillover of Syria's conflict onto the sensitive armistice line with Israel.

Diplomats scrambled to secure the release of the 21 Filipinos serving with the four-decade-old UN peace mission on the strategic plateau, as concern mounted that their seizure might prompt more governments to withdraw their contingents.

Israel, which has repeatedly warned that it will not tolerate any spillover onto the Golan, said it feared the hostage-taking might lead to the already depleted force being wound up altogether.

For months, Israel has retaliated against stray fire onto its side of the armistice line, whether from Damascus troops or the rebels, who are also hostile to its occupation of the Syrian territory.

The Philippine soldiers were detained at a rebel post on the Syrian side on Wednesday by gunmen who said the troops would be held until government forces pulled back from Jamla village in the southern province of Daraa.

The village is some 1.5 kilometers east of the armistice line.

Talks under way

The Philippine government said on Thursday that talks were under way for the release of the 21 unarmed Filipino UN peacekeepers.

Foreign Affairs Department spokesman Raul Hernandez said the peacekeepers were unharmed and were being treated as "visitors and guests".

Hernandez told reporters in Manila that the UN force commander in the area was negotiating with the leader of the rebel group, whose demands concerned the positioning of Syrian government forces in the area. He said there was no deadline for the negotiations.

Philippine President Benigno Aquino III said earlier on Thursday that the UN force commander told him to expect the peacekeepers to be released within 24 hours, with negotiations progressing well. The UN Security Council demanded their immediate and unconditional release.

The capture came a week after the announcement that a member of the peacekeeping force is missing. The force, known as UNDOF, was established a year after the 1973 Middle East war. It monitors the disengagement of Israeli and Syrian forces and maintains a cease-fire.

Gross violation of law

Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said the peacekeepers' detention was a gross violation of international law as they were operating under the UN flag.

The captive troops are part of a 300-strong Philippine contingent to the UN force that has been monitoring the separation of Israeli and Syrian troops on the Golan.

At the end of February, the UN Disengagement Force comprised some 1,000 peacekeepers, but a growing number of incidents over the past year has made it increasingly difficult for the United Nations to keep the mission up to strength.

Canada and Japan had already withdrawn their small contingents, and Croatia announced last week it was pulling out its 100 troops.

Aquino said no decision had yet been made on the future of Manila's contingent, but its withdrawal would leave just Austrian and Indian troops.

UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous told reporters after briefing the Security Council that negotiations were under way with the rebels to secure the peacekeepers' release "and the matter is mobilizing all our teams".

In an amateur video footage, a rebel spokesman said the peacekeepers would not be freed until Syrian government forces pull out of the area.

"If they do not withdraw, these men will be treated as prisoners," spokesman Abu Kaid al-Faleh said, accusing the UN force of working with the Syrian army against the rebels.

Israel, which captured much of the Golan in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in 1981 in a move that has never been recognized by the international community, said it feared any depletion of the UN force would pose a serious threat.

"This kidnapping is likely to convince countries that participate in this force to bring their troops home, which would undoubtedly create a dangerous vacuum in no-man's land on the Golan," an Israeli official said.

The Yediot Aharonot daily said Israeli officials feared that "al-Qaida members will take control of the buffer zone".

AFP-AP

(China Daily 03/08/2013 page11)