After a seven-hour siege on Sunday, 40 Filipino UN peacekeepers were released in the Golan Heights.
The 40 Filipino UN peacekeepers made a daring escape from their beleaguered outpost in the Golan Heights on Sunday after the seven-hour gun battle with the Syrian rebels. However, Al-Qaida-linked insurgents are still holding 44 Fijian troops incarcerated.
The Golan Heights crisis burst forth on Thursday when Syrian militants began aiming the peacekeeping forces. The United Nations Security Council has doomed the attacks on the international troops monitoring the Syrian-Israeli border, and has called for the unconditional release of those still in custody.
When Syrian insurgents assaulted the Quneitra crossing located on the existing border between Syrian-Israeli controlled Golan Heights' parts, the crisis began on Wednesday. After a day, Al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front insurgents apprehended the Fijian peacekeepers and enclosed the Filipino peacekeepers demanding surrender.
Occupying two UN encampments, the Filipino peacekeepers refused and battled the rebels on Saturday. On board armored vehicles, the first Filipino peacekeepers group of 35 was then successfully ushered out of a UN encampment in Breiqa by Irish and Filipino services.
At Rwihana, the second UN bivouac, the remaining 40 Filipino peacekeepers were plagued by over a hundred gunmen who run into the gates with their trucks and fired mortar rounds. The Philippine military officials said that the Filipino peacekeepers fought back in self-defense.
Philippine military Colonel Roberto Ancan reported at one point that Syrian government forces fired artillery rounds from a distance to prevent the Filipino peacekeepers from being beleaguered. The Philippine military official helped monitor the apprehensive standoff from Manila, the Philippines' capital, and drum up support for the besieged troops.
Philippine military chief General Gregorio Pio Catapang stated that they were no Filipino peacekeepers casualties and commended their soldiers for exhibiting resolve even while under heavy fire as they held their positions for seven hours.
Philippine officials said that the 40 Filipino peacekeepers escaped with their weapons and travelled across the chilly hills for almost two hours when a ceasefire took hold at nighttime, before meeting up with other UN forces. General Gregorio Pio Catapang reported in Manila that they call the release as the greatest escape for their troops. Without further elaboration, the he stated that the Israeli and Syrian governments together with the US and Qatar provided support.
The United Nations Disengagement Observer Force in New York reported that shortly after midnight local time, all 40 Filipino peacekeepers fled their position during an armed-element agreed ceasefire and arrived safely in location after an hour.
Meanwhile, UN secretary general Ban Ki Moon promised that the UN was doing its best to obtain the unreserved and prompt release of the captivated Fijian peacekeepers. Military commander brigadier general Mosese Tikoitoga reported that a UN negotiation team and Fijians in Syria were working towards the peacekeepers release.
The Al-Qaeda-linked insurgents, The Nusra Front, confirmed in a statement posted online, that it had detained the Fijian peacekeepers and published a photo showing the captured Fijians in their military uniforms along with their respective identification cards. The rebels said that the men are in safe place and in good health and everything they need are given to them. The insurgents mentioned no demands or conditions for the peacekeepers' release.
While the Philippine military forces and their government are thankful for the safety released of the Filipino peacekeepers, the Fijian authorities wish the same outcome for their captive troops trapped in the Golan Heights crisis.
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