Syrian video shows Filipino peacekeepers in 'safe place'

Video released by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights shows a man identifying as a captain in the UN Filipino battalion saying he and his men are in a "safe place" and treated well by captors.

By REUTERS
UN peacekeepers held by Syria rebels 370 (photo credit: YouTube Screenshot)
UN peacekeepers held by Syria rebels 370
(photo credit: YouTube Screenshot)
BEIRUT - The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights released a video on Thursday purporting to show six Filipino peacekeepers from a United Nations convoy detained in the south of the country on Wednesday.
In the video, a man who identifies himself as a captain in the UN Filipino battalion says he and his men were in "a safe place" and had stopped in the village of Jamla because of bombing and artillery fire in the area.
"Civilian people helped us for our safety and distributed us in different places to keep us safe. They gave us good accommodation and gave us food to eat and water to drink," he said.
Israel captured the Golan Heights in the 1967 Six-Day War, and mortar fire from Syria's civil war has occasionally spilled over into the strategic plateau.
Peacekeepers of the UN Disengagement Force (UNDOF) mission have been monitoring a ceasefire line between Syria and the Golan Heights for nearly four decades.
Rebels holding the 21 peacekeepers near the Golan Heights said Syrian government forces must leave the area before they free them, an activist in touch with the fighters said.