UN officials shuttled along the rocky frontier between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Friday, trying to establish the whereabouts of 43 United Nations peacekeepers seized by al-Qaeda-linked militants inside Syria.
Israeli forces took up positions at Quneitra, a fortified crossing between Syria and the Golan, barely 400 metres from Nusra Front militants, who attacked a UN base on the Syrian side of the border on Wednesday and seized the 43 Fijians.
About 80 UN soldiers from the Philippines, all of whom serve with UNDOF, a UN force that has monitored the disengagement zone between Israel and Syria since the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, remain locked down in two camps on the Syrian side of the frontier, military officers in the Philippines said.
Officials from UNDOF, which has about 1,200 peacekeepers from six countries operating in the zone, declined to comment as they left one of their compounds on Friday.
Israeli soldiers, including some redeployed from Gaza, prevented anyone moving too close to the border.
“We’re not doing anything, we’re just watching,” said an Israeli officer, his platoon hunkered down behind a mound of rocks a few hundred yards back from the crossing, the blue UN flag fluttering above the compound in the near distance.
From a lookout point on the Israeli-controlled side, with views across southeastern Syria, Nusra Front rebels could be seen moving on motorbikes and in pick-up trucks, while further away the Syrian army battled opposition forces.
The sound of shelling and heavy gunfire echoed across the valley and plumes of smoke rose from buildings as the fighting played out barely two km (1.2 miles) away.
It is the third time in two years that UNDOF troops have been seized on the Syrian side of the demarcation zone, a measure of the instability since the uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad began. Until then, UNDOF had been one of the quietest UN peacekeeping posts anywhere in the world.
In both previous cases those seized were released within days, UN officials said. But the situation appears to be more precarious this time. A militant close to the Nusra Front said the Fijians had been taken because they had been providing medical treatment to wounded soldiers from Assad’s army.
