Seized PH peacekeepers being taken to Jordan–NGO

An image grab taken from a video uploaded on YouTube on Thursday, March 7, 2013, allegedly shows six uniformed members of the United Nations Disengagement Force (UNDOF), who have been seized by rebels the previous day, speaking at an undisclosed location. Syrian rebels held hostage 21 UN Filipino peacekeepers patroling the sensitive armistice line with Israel for a second day, defying a chorus of international condemnation and calls for their release. AFP FILE PHOTO/YOUTUBE

BEIRUT — Twenty-one United Nations peacekeepers seized by rebels on the Syrian Golan were on their way to the border with Jordan and freedom on Saturday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights watchdog said.

“The peacekeepers have been transferred from the (Golan) village of Jamla, where they were held, towards the Yarmuk valley on the frontier with Jordan ahead of their release,” said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman, who is in contact with the abductors.

In Manila, Lieutenant Colonel Randolph Cabangbang, Army spokesman, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer in an interview that “a battalion” of Filipino UN peacekeepers have begun making its way towards Al Jamla.

“There is a movement by the Philippine battalion toward Al Jamla to pick up the 21 Filipino UN peacekeepers,” Cabangbang said in a phone interview.

He said that the 47-man battalion led by a colonel began to head to Al Jamla at about 8 a.m. Saturday (2 p.m. in Manila). With a report from Nikko Dizon, Inquirer