Pinoy peacekeepers in standoff with Syrian militants

[~..viej..~]

ABS-CBNnews.com
Posted at 08/29/2014 12:00 AM | Updated as of 08/29/2014 12:41 PM

MANILA (2nd UPDATE) - Filipino peacekeepers under the United Nations are in an armed standoff with Syrian anti-government militants in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, the military said Friday morning.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), in a statement, said the militants on Thursday morning first occupied the position of Fijian peacekeepers of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) and demanded that they surrender their firearms. 

However, upon surrendering their firearms, the 43 Fijian peacekeepers were taken hostage, the AFP said.
 
The insurgents later surrounded the Philippine contingent's encampments, with Fijian hostages in tow, and demanded that the Filipino troops surrender their firearms. 

"The Philippine peacekeepers held their ground and demonstrated their resolve to defend their positions," the military said. "They did not surrender their firearms as they may in turn be held hostage themselves. This resulted in a stand-off which is still the prevailing situation at this time as UN officials try to peacefully resolve the situation."
 
The AFP added that the Philippine government and the United Nations are working together to ensure the safety of the Filipino troops.

"During a period of increased fighting beginning yesterday between armed elements and Syrian Arab Armed Forces within the area of separation in the Golan Heights, 43 peacekeepers from the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) were detained early this morning by an armed group in the vicinity of Al Qunaytirah," the U.N. press office said in a statement.

It added that another 81 UNDOF peacekeepers were being restricted to their positions in the vicinity of Ar Ruwayhinah and Burayqah. Dujarric said the 81 trapped troops were from the Philippines and the 43 seized ones from Fiji.

"The United Nations is making every effort to secure the release of the detained peacekeepers, and to restore the full freedom of movement of the force throughout its area of operation," it said.

Britain's U.N. Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant, president of the Security Council this month, told reporters the trapped peacekeepers were surrounded by Islamist militants.

The 15-nation Security Council, which was meeting on the humanitarian situation in Syria, was also discussing the issue of the kidnapped peacekeepers, Lyall Grant said.

The Security Council issued a statement strongly condemning the seizure of the peacekeepers and calling for their immediate release. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon echoed the council word's in his own statement of condemnation.

Reporters asked Dujarric if the United Nations was in contact with the group holding the Fijians. He declined to specify who the world body was in contact with but said there was communication under way.

"There are contacts being held at different levels, on the mission and on the ground," he said. "They are talking to representatives of various armed groups that they have ... operational contact with. They are talking to countries in the region."

Dujarric was also asked about the rules for peacekeepers in such situations.

"In extreme circumstances, these troops are trained and prepared and equipped to defend themselves, but, obviously, each situation has to be analyzed on a case-by-case basis," he said.

FIJI ARMY CHIEF SAYS COMMITTED

U.N. officials say that the peacekeepers, whose job is to monitor the cessation of hostilities, carry small arms that are only to be used in extreme circumstances. In previous situations where UNDOF peacekeepers were held hostage, the troops did not use their weapons.

The Quneitra crossing on the Golan is a strategic plateau captured by Israel in a 1967 Middle East war. Syria and Israel technically remain at war. Syrian troops are not allowed in an area of separation under a 1973 ceasefire formalized in 1974.

UNDOF monitors the area of separation, a narrow strip of land running about 45 miles (70 km) from Mount Hermon on the Lebanese border to the Yarmouk River frontier with Jordan. There are 1,223 UNDOF peacekeepers from six countries.

Before the Syrian civil war, now in its fourth year, the region was generally quiet and the peacekeepers had mostly found their biggest enemy to be boredom.

The force's personnel come from Fiji, India, Ireland, Nepal, Netherlands and the Philippines. The United Nations said this week that the Philippines has decided to pull out of UNDOF, and from a U.N. force in Liberia, which is struggling with an outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus.

Blue-helmeted U.N. troops were seized by militants in March and May 2013. In both of those cases they were released safely.

Austria, Japan and Croatia have all pulled their troops out of UNDOF due to the deteriorating security situation and spillover from the Syrian war.

But Fijian Army Commander Brigadier-General Mosese Tikoitoga told Reuters in an interview on Friday that he would not be recommending to his government that Fiji follow suit.

"If I was to make any recommendation, I would increase our forces in Syria. That would be my recommendation," he said by phone from Fiji.

"We will not make any recommendations of pulling out from the U.N. or any other engagement, because our contribution to U.N. peacekeeping - if we don't want to do this, then who else in the world would want to do this?"

He added that he was confident the Fijians would be released soon based on the strength of their contacts in the Golan Heights region.  - with reports from Chiara Zambrano, ABS-CBN News; Reuters


source: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/global-filipino/08/28/14/militants-seize-pinoy-peacekeepers-golan-heights

[caligula]

An opportunity presents itself now for Pinoy to show who's the boss. Let the world know we can't be bullied around. I hope they continue to stand their ground.

[fayt]

we can only give prayer to them...

puso...... 

[spidey]

tama sila hindi dapat isuko ang mga armas, yan ang pinoy may utak at puso sa laban

[bossingjom]

In retrospect our armed forces have so much combat experience than the enemy. Fighting in foreign soil with no where to run and hide and help is far away, holding their ground and fight is the a very good strategy.

Sent from my DARKSIDE using Tapatalk

[caligula]

I was watching the news last night and they reported the pinoys got out and it was dubbed 'the greatest escape'.