UN Troops Rescue Philippine Peacekeepers on Golan Heights; Others Still Missing

The Philippine military chief said that all of the United Nations peacekeepers from his country had escaped after they were surrounded and came under fire by Syrian rebels on Saturday. At the same time, 44 UN troops from Fiji were still in the hands of gunmen from the Islamist group, the Nusra Front, who kidnapped the peacekeepers on Thursday. The head of the Fijian army said there had still been no word on where the peacekeepers were being held, which he said was a subject for concern. UN peacekeepers have been kidnapped several times in the past few months and they were freed after several days. However, the kidnapping raised tensions on the border between Israel and Syria just days after the end of seven weeks of fighting between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The Philippines had already announced it would not renew its troops’ mandate when it expires in October. More than 1,220 soldiers from Fiji, India, Ireland, Nepal and the Philippines patrol the border between Israel and Syria which has been Israel’s quietest border since the demilitarization agreement in 1974.