A firefight erupted Saturday between a group of Filipino UN peacekeepers and the jihadists surrounding their position in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, defence officials in the Philippines said.

Advertising Read more

About 40 troops from the Philippines manning one of two camps on the Syrian side of the frontier, identified as camp 68, came under attack at around 6am local time, Defence Secretary Voltaire Gazmin told reporters in a mobile phone text message.

Another defence official said all the Philippine troops were safe.

“There was a firefight but I would like to assure everyone that our troops are safe at the moment,” said Ramon Zagala, chief of the Philippines' armed forces public affairs office.

Despite being surrounded, the Filipino troops have held their ground for about 48 hours and have refused to give up their arms to the militants.

Another 35 Philippines troops were at another site, known as camp 69, about 4 kms away but were not engaged in the firefight.

The peacekeepers are from the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), tasked with monitoring a ceasefire between Syria and Israel since 1974 in the wake of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.

“The troops who are meant to be keeping the peace between Syria and Israel are based in a no-man's land and have become caught up in the Syrian civil war,” said FRANCE 24’s Jerusalem correspondent Irris Makler.

The UN and the Philippines' authorities said Saturday afternoon that one group of peacekeepers were safely evacuated, but the others remained trapped by the militants.

UN officials are still trying to establish the whereabouts of 44 Fijian peacekeepers, also part of UNDOF, who were seized by al Qaeda-linked militants from the Nusra Front this week along the rocky frontier between Syria and the Golan Heights.

The Fijian peacekeepers were captured from their post about eight kilometres away from the Filipino troops.

(FRANCE 24 with REUTERS and AFP)

Daily newsletterReceive essential international news every morning Subscribe