AFP: No decision yet to pullout Filipino troops from Golan Heights

AP PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine troops will continue serving as peacekeepers in the Golan Heights unless Manila decides to withdraw them amid intense fighting in the region, Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff General Emmanuel Bautista said on Friday.

The remark was made after a  Filipino peace monitor was wounded Thursday by mortar shrapnel as Syrian government and rebel fighters battled for a border crossing. Filipino troops have twice been abducted by rebel forces in the past four months.

Bautisa said pulling out the Filipino peace monitors from the UN-patrolled demarcation line is a “political decision” and a foreign relations issue.

“We will submit to whatever the decision is going to be,” he said.

The Department of Foreign Affairs has recommended withdrawing Philippine troops from the peacekeeping mission after 25 Filipinos were abducted and later released by Syrian rebels in March and May.

There are 341 Filipino members of the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), which has monitored a ceasefire between Israel and Syria in the Golan Heights since 1974. The United Nations has been struggling to persuade Manila to keep its troops in the Golan force.

Austria on Thursday announced it would withdraw its 377 troops after Syrian rebels briefly seized a crossing on the Israel-Syria ceasefire line.

The Austrian pullout would leave the force with just 341 troops from the Philippines and 193 from India. A year ago, UNDOF had more than 1,100 troops, but Japan and Croatia have already pulled out in recent months.

Other contributors to the mission include India, Morocco and Moldova.

Bautista said the AFP is studying the security aspects of its overseas deployment.

“We cannot discount the risk,” he said. “If you would ask the Armed Forces, we are committed to perform our mandate and we lay our lives on the line whether it be here or somewhere else.”

The Filipino soldier suffered a leg injury from “a wayward indirect fire” that landed on Camp Ziouni, a logistics base there. He was reported to be in a stable condition. With Agence France-Presse