generalspeaking

Freed UN hostages entering Jordan after Syria release

Rebels moved the hostages themselves after a UN team hoping to collect them inside Syria was delayed by clashes between rebels and government forces.

Fighters from the Martyrs of Yarmouk group seized the soldiers on the Golan Heights, near Israel, on Wednesday.

Some appeared in videos online, saying they were safe and being treated well.

The rebels had demanded the withdrawal of Syrian government forces from the area before proceeding with the release.

The hostages were held in the village of Jamla, about 1.6km (1 mile) east of the frontier with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and 10km north of Jordan.

They are observers from the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (Undof), tasked with monitoring the ceasefire line between Syria and Israel, which has occupied part of the Heights since the 1967 war.

According to the UN, they were on a "regular supply mission" when they were stopped by armed men near an observation post.

Jordanian government spokesman Samih Maaytah told AFP news agency that the hostages were now on his country's territory.

Mokhtar Lamani, a UN envoy in Damascus, confirmed the news to AP news agency.
A UN team had been due to go into Syria on Saturday afternoon to collect the peacekeepers, under a truce between the warring sides.

However, the convoy of 12 vehicles stopped several kilometres away because of continuing fighting, a rebel spokesman told AP news agency.

Instead, the rebels began moving the hostages towards Jordan, according to the rebels and an opposition monitoring group.

Labels: Conflict, Jordan, Revolution, Societal Failures, Syria, United Nations

posted by Pieface @ Saturday, March 09, 2013