Israel confirms entry of UNDOF peacemakers across Golan border; al-Nusra rebels attack troops near DMZ; Irish troops extricate some Fijian colleagues.
Armed rebels at Syria's Quneitra border crossing to Israel's Golan Heights |
Seventy-five UNDOF peacekeepers in the Golan Heights fled Syrian territory for the Israeli-controlled Golan on Saturday after their positions were attacked by rebel forces.
An Israeli military spokesman confirmed that a number of UN peacekeepers entered Israel.
He spoke on condition of anonymity. Channel 2 said 75 UN troops had crossed the borders, after two UN positions on the Syrian side of the border were targeted by al-Nusra rebel forces.
The situation of the peacekeepers, whose mission monitors a 1974 disengagement accord between Syria and Israel, remained “very, very fluid,” the UN secretary-general’s spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters Friday at the UN headquarters in New York.
The UN said in a statement it has received assurances from credible sources that the Fijian peacekeepers “are safe and in good health.”
The statement added that they had been informed “the intention behind holding the peacekeepers was to remove them from an active battlefield to a safe area for their own protection.”
Photo on top - Friday, Aug. 29, 2014. (photo credit: AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Photo of UN group - http://israelmatzav.blogspot.co.il/2014/08/philippine-undof-troops-escape-to.html#links
Photo of UN group - http://israelmatzav.blogspot.co.il/2014/08/philippine-undof-troops-escape-to.html#links
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for visiting my blog. Your comments are always appreciated, but please do not include links.