Syrian rebels want Red Cross “to escort UN peacekeepers out of area”

PanARMENIAN.Net - Syrian rebels who seized 21 Filipino UN peacekeepers in the Golan Heights want the Red Cross to escort them out of the area because of fighting with Syrian government forces, Belfast Telegraph said.

The peacekeepers were held on Wednesday, March 6 near the Syrian village of Jamlah, in an area where the UN force had patrolled a ceasefire line between Israel and Syria without incident for nearly four decades.

Philippine military spokesman Colonel Arnulfo Marcelo Burgos said the rebels were willing to release the peacekeepers, and asked for the International Committee of the Red Cross to escort them to a safe area.

According to Col Burgos, the rebels said the peacekeepers have to be removed because there was heavy fighting in the area.

He said the information came from the UN command in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, which was negotiating for the release of the peacekeepers.

"They want the ICRC to pick them up and escort them," Col Burgos said. "Hopefully they will really be released and we are also waiting for that."

The UN and the Philippine government condemned the seizure of the peacekeepers and called on the rebels to release them immediately.