Syria army battles rebels as UN bids to free Golan monitors

NEAR THE QUNEITRA CROSSING, Golan Heights – Syrian troops battled rebels hard by the armistice line with Israel on the Golan Heights on Monday, September 1, as the United Nations pressed efforts to free 44 peacekeepers held by the insurgents.

Several mortar rounds struck close to the ceasefire line as the combatants exchanged rocket, mortar and tank fire near the Quneitra crossing, which the rebels seized last week, an Agence France-Presse correspondent reported.

Israeli public radio reported that one stray round hit Israeli-occupied territory, without causing any casualties.

Al-Qaeda rebels stormed the Syrian side of crossing on Wednesday, August 27, and seized 44 Fijian peacekeepers, part of a UN mission that has monitored the ceasefire on the strategic plateau since 1974.

The United Nations said on Sunday, August 31, that the Fijians “continue to be detained by armed elements”.

“At this time, no additional information on their status or location has been established. The United Nations continues to actively seek their immediate and unconditional release,” it said.

More than 70 Philippine peacekeepers who had been surrounded by the rebels escaped the hot zone over the weekend but the UN mission remained on high alert.

Peacekeepers were detained twice last year before being released safely.

The Philippines said before the latest incident that it will repatriate its 331-strong contingent for security reasons, mirroring previous moves by Australia, Croatia and Japan.

The UN Disengagement Observer Force currently has 1,200 peacekeepers from the Philippines, Fiji, India, Ireland, Nepal and the Netherlands.

There has been repeated fire across the ceasefire line since the uprising in Syria erupted in March 2011, not all of it stray.

In June, Israeli warplanes attacked Syrian military headquarters and positions after an Israeli teenager was killed in what the Jewish state said was a cross-border attack by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Israel seized 1,200 square kilometers (460 square miles) of the Golan Heights during the Six-Day War of 1967, then annexed it in 1981 in a move never recognized by the international community. – Rappler.com