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IRISH DEFENCE FORCE troops remain on “high alert” in Golan Heights after yesterday’s kidnapping of Fijian peacekeepers.
The Guardian reports that dozens of Filipino United Nations Disengagement Observation Force (UNDOF) peacekeepers in the area were surrounded by Syrian rebels today.
Also today, elements of the Force Reserve Company of the 44th Infantry Group were deployed by the Force Commander into the Zone of Separation to support other UNDOF personnel.
The Defence Forces said that Irish personnel secured a route, provided security as UNDOF troops withdrew from a UN position and escorted them to the Force Headquarters in Camp Faouar.
The 44th Infantry Group remain on high alert, prepared for further taskings from the Force Commander.
All Defence Forces personnel and equipment remain safe and accounted for.
The 44th Infantry Group and Defence Forces Headquarters continue to monitor the situation, said the Defence Forces.
Defence Minister Simon Coveney said yesterday that Ireland will be reviewing its place in the UN peacekeeping mission once the immediate situation is resolved.
“Deadly force”
The 75 Filipino members of UNDOF who were besieged by Syrian rebels on the Golan Heights are ready to use “deadly force” to defend themselves, their commander in Manila said today.
Talks are underway to free a separate group of 43 peacekeepers from Fiji who have been taken hostage by anti-Assad fighters.
The United Nations Security Council “strongly condemned” the assaults against the peacekeepers, which it said were carried out by “terrorist groups and by members of non-state armed groups”.
The Filipino peacekeepers trapped at two posts on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights were prepared to fight back rather than surrender, their commander in Manila said.
“We can use deadly force in defence of the UN facilities,” Colonel Roberto Ancan told reporters.
I (would) just like to emphasise our troops are well-armed, they are well-trained… they are well-disciplined warrior peacekeepers.
Syrian rebels, including fighters from the Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front, stormed a Golan Heights crossing on Wednesday, sparking an exchange of gunfire with Israeli troops.
The rebels then captured 43 Fijian members of the UNDOF on the Syrian side yesterday, forcing them to surrender their weapons and taking them hostage.
Ancan said the rebels then used an English-speaking Fijian hostage to relay their demand to the Filipino peacekeepers to give up their weapons, but they refused.
Talks underway
Meanwhile, talks were underway to release the Fijian hostages, according to the Pacific nation’s Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama, who said they were believed to be safe.
“I want to assure the families of the soldiers we are doing everything possible to secure their safe return,” Bainimarama said in a statement.
The latest information we have is that they are safe and I can say now that the negotiations for their release have already begun.
Condemnation
The UN Security Council demanded the “unconditional and immediate release of all the detained United Nations peacekeepers” and urged countries with influence to help win their release.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said it was unclear which group had staged the attacks.
“Some groups are self-identified as affiliated to Al-Nusra but we are not able to confirm,” he said.
However, the US State Department said Al-Nusra was definitely involved, in a statement that emphasised the group was designated by the United Nations as a terrorist organisation.
Security fears
Since the Syrian war erupted in 2011, the plateau has been tense, with a growing number of rockets and mortar rounds hitting the Israeli side, mostly stray, prompting occasional armed responses.
The Philippines, which has 331 troops serving in UNDOF, announced on Saturday that it would pull out of the peace force because of security concerns.
Filipino defence officials said then no fresh troops would be sent once the current batch of soldiers returned from duty in October.
The new crisis had prompted the Philippines to consider pulling out the troops earlier than October, foreign affairs spokesman Jose said.
UNDOF was set up to monitor the 1974 disengagement accord between Syria and Israel after their 1973 war.
It currently includes 1,223 peacekeepers from six countries: Ireland, Fiji, India, Nepal and the Netherlands.
- Additional reporting © AFP, 2014
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The things people get compo for and then there’s this! Just give them the money and let them have a bit of comfort fgs
@Patricia Ellis Dunne: Yes, these women do deserve compensation. Last week a survivor of clerical abuse was hospitalized after going on hunger strike in protest at the trauma inflicted on survivors by Caranua, the state redress authority. When are FF-FG going to start to treat these people as decently as they claim to treat them when they’re giving speeches in the Dail?
Wouldn’t be like the State to do something like that at all now would it!? Sometimes I really really dislike this country.
How thoroughly Christian of them.
And the church’s marketing team has just pulled off ‘Red Wednesday’ where cathedrals around the world are lit up in red in aid of “justice and victims of suffering”. Practice what ye preach ye hollow, defunct crowd of hypocrites.
Rants McCrank:The decisions to deny redress was done by the organs of our State in our name ,we are all responsible.
@Brian O Reilly: no we are not all responsible. I did not abuse or ill treat anyone and I don’t see why me and my children, through borrowed money for compensation, should have to pay. Your decision and opinion to centralize the liability for all wrongdoing to all citizens is a dream for the legal profession.
@Ranty McCrank: Its a pity the fathers can’t be found and the pensions/estates used to fund this. Remember when lovely auld Johnny dies and leaves the house to Mary & Paddy but unknown to them Jimmy is being denied a share.
@lavbeer: Presumably he would have a will leaving it to who he wants.
So 27 people would get on average a € 82,000 payout,which = 2.214 m
Around 2 million Irish people are paying taxes
That means it will cost me about €1
I’m livid at that loss..How will I cope!!
@Francis Mc Carthy: That’s for this incident alone and 27 people. They are all adding up and increasing in payment amount. If the 1 in 4 stat for abuse is true then 1.25 million people could claim for “redress”. That is €102 billion. Indeed how will we cope. We truly are a failed state with no true leadership. All divided and fighting for scraps.
So who will be Who’s redressing them? Dumped in the taxpayer again? Decisions like this to garner votes from lobby groups may please those members but the working people remember the politicians that are making innocent workers financially liable for the grave misconduct of others.
Why can’t the state sue the Vatican. To get the compensation money back? The way it is. it’s the taxpayer paying the compo!
The DJE is an appallingly bad and oppressive Government Department. It is a law unto itself.
Kudos to the Ombudsman for standing up to Fine Gael on this one.
Stop the prevarication and cough up the dough.
That’s what happens when you combine corruption, nepotism, cronyism, ineptitude and a blatant lack of any kind of morals or dignity!
Shameless crooks running the Banana Republic of Ireland but people care more about the soccer team getting hammered by the Danes!
Its kind of hilarious these days the way women come out with these #metoo stories about how a man grab their arse or tits and the whole world cries for them while the mans career is ruined. meanwhile people have been screaming from the roof tops for decades about the abuse the catholic church carried out in this country and there’s hardly a word about it and 0 justice
@Alfred Pennyworth:
Just do not forget that many a woman’s life was ruined because the fathers of their children abandoned them and that is why they ended up in these awful Laundries. It is the State that is now denying these women the compensation that they deserve to get without delay so they can at least feel that their suffering will be recognized. But no the State could not wait to give the Banks who ruined the country Shedloads of money but they make the women beg for the crumbs .
Flannagan reminds me of Noonan when he dragged dying people into court in the attempt to save the state money and cover up a deadly mess in the blood transfusion scandal.
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