The Martyrs of Yarmouk initially accused the peacekeepers of aiding the Syrian military, which rebels said was attacking villages in the area, and declared it would not release them until the army pulled out. But — apparently under pressure from the opposition’s leadership — the rebels quickly disavowed those claims and demands, saying they had detained the troops to protect them from the fighting in the area. The rebels then began negotiations to turn the peacekeepers over to the United Nations.

The stakes for the handoff were high: if it went well, opposition leaders could at least point to a successful transfer of the United Nations soldiers as proof that rebel units, even if they make mistakes, can respond to orders responsibly. If the soldiers had come to harm, it could have further undermined the willingness of nations to send peacekeepers to the Golan Heights, where Israel has said it will not hesitate to intervene if it feels threatened.

After a tense 24 hours — in which the United Nations said a convoy tried to rescue the soldiers but turned back because of Syrian government shelling in the area — the rebels themselves transported the prisoners to the Jordanian border.

“They are safe now; we have delivered them across the border, praise be to God,” said the rebel commander, who gave only his nickname, Col. Abu Mahmoud, for security reasons. “We took them to keep them safe because they were going through a very dangerous area and they were our guests, and we protected them with our own chests.”

The Filipino soldiers were turned over to the Jordanian Army, given checkups in a military hospital, then handed over to United Nations officials and the ambassador from the Philippines, according to Samih Maaytah, Jordan’s minister of state.