A UN convoy attempting to pick up 21 Filipino peackeepers that their Syrian rebel captors had agreed to free was forced back by a barrage of army shelling today, a watchdog said.
In New York, UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous said the village where the soldiers are being held was coming under intense shelling.
That was denied by Syrian UN Ambassador Bashar Jaafari, who said everything was being done to get them out safely.
Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said a UN convoy entered the Syrian village of
Jamla to collect the peacekeepers and that the army shelled the area, a watchdog told AFP.
When the UN vehicles entered into Jamla, the Syrian army shelled a nearby village. The UN cars then withdraw from
Jamla,” said Abdel Rahman, who earlier claimed the rebels were willing to hand over their captives.
Ladsous said Jamla was under intense bombardment from army forces, and expressed hope that a possible ceasefire would lead to the freeing of the peacekeepers, who have been held by rebels since Wednesday.
That village is subject to intense shelling by the Syrian armed forces,” he said. “There is perhaps a hope, but it is not done yet… that a ceasefire of a few hours can intervene which would allow for our people to be released.”
The Filipinos, members of the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) monitoring the armistice between Syria and
Israel that followed the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, were abducted by the rebels on Wednesday just one and a half kilometres to the Syrian side of the ceasefire line.
The refusal by the rebels to compromise had dampened hopes of a swift release and forced Manila to step up its
negotiation efforts, Philippine foreign affairs spokesman Raul Hernandez said.
The rebels are demanding that Syrian troops move 20 kilometres back from Jamla, an area at the southern end of the
armistice zone in the Golan, Hernandez said.
The demand of the rebels for the repositioning of Syrian forces in the area of Jamla is still outstanding so this is still being worked out,” he said on the Philippines ABS-CBN television.
The Philippine government had previously received information that raised hopes the 21 would be released today
and the government now did not know if or when they would be freed, Hernandez said.
We are trying to intensify our negotiations with the rebel groups,” he said adding that the hostages were
nonetheless being treated well.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the rebels had added a fresh demand.
They are now demanding a new condition — that the International Committee of the Red Cross guarantees the safe
exit from the strife-torn area of Jamla of civilians,” Abdel Rahman, director of the Britain-based watchdog, told AFP.
—————————————–(AFP)