AFP
The Philippines has pulled its peacekeepers from the Golan Heights ahead of schedule amid worsening security there, a military spokesman said yesterday.
A total of 244 of the 344 Filipino soldiers and staff will arrive back in Manila later, with the rest flying in the next week or so, military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Ramon Zagala said.
“Troops are being repatriated because of the deteriorating security situation,” Zagala said, adding the UN had approved the withdrawal.
“Protection of our soldiers is in the national interest.”
Some of these troops had traded fire last month with Al Qaeda-linked Syrian rebels who wanted them to surrender their weapons. The gunmen also disarmed and abducted 45 Fijian peacekeepers who were later freed unharmed.
The UN Disengagement Observer Force withdrew hundreds of members of the peacekeeping force from the Syrian side to the Israeli-occupied sector of the area on Monday after Syrian fighters advanced near their
positions.
