The Philippine president said Wednesday his government would no longer deploy peacekeepers in “impossible” missions like the Golan Heights, where Filipino forces were attacked by Syrian insurgents.
President Benigno Aquino III said hundreds of Filipino peacekeepers were tasked to guard a UN-patrolled buffer zone separating Israel and Syria. But when the Syrian civil war spilled over and Islamic militants started attacking the Filipinos and other peacekeepers, their mission became unclear and highly dangerous.
The Philippines decided to withdraw the peacekeepers ahead of schedule, ending a 5-year presence in the increasingly volatile Golan Heights.
Philippine military officials also feuded with the head of the UN peacekeeping force over his handling of a standoff between Syrian rebels and outnumbered Filipino peacekeepers, who fought back and finally escaped after reportedly refusing his order to surrender.
“The news that reached me was that you were ordered to lay down your firearms and we would never agree to that,” Aquino said in a presidential palace ceremony, where he welcomed more than 340 Golan peacekeepers and pinned medals on some.
“If you were taken hostage, the problem would have become more complicated with our limited ability to send a rescue force,” Aquino said.
