Wednesday, March 6, 2013

#GolanHeights The two-year-old Syrian civil war has once again burst its national borders


  1. Rebel group in Syria abducts 20 UN peacekeepers, demands withdrawal of Assad forces from village 
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    • The two-year-old Syrian civil war has once again burst its national borders as a shadowy rebel group abducted 20 United Nations peacekeepers who patrol a ceasefire line on the Golan Heights that has separated Syrian and Israeli forces since 1974.
      The unarmed UN personnel, all from the Philippines, were attempting to repair an observation post damaged in recent Syrian fighting, when some 30 members of the so-called Martyrs of Yarmouk Brigade jumped them.
      A video circulated by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based opposition group, showed Abu Qaed al-Faleh, acting as a spokesman for the rebel group, dressed in army fatigues and standing in front of two white armoured UN vehicles in which several people were sitting wearing the familiar light-blue UN helmets and body armour.
      The group is holding the peacekeepers, Mr. al-Faleh announced, until Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces are withdrawn from the nearby Syrian village of Jamlah, scene of intense recent fighting.
      Describing the Syrian regime, along with the UN and European countries as “collaborators with Israel,” the rebel spokesman said of the hostages that “if no withdrawal is made within 24 hours, we will treat them as prisoners.”
      It is an ominous warning. Earlier this week, a video showed the group allegedly executing several Syrian soldiers it had taken prisoner, a charge Human Rights Watch said it is investigating.
      Vitaly Churkin, Russia’s ambassador to the UN, which holds the presidency this month of the UN Security Council, denounced those who carried out Wednesday’s abduction.
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Posted by Robby Ball at 6:59 PM