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UN: About 20 Golan Heights peacekeepers captured by Syrian rebels
NBC news ^ | Kari Huus

Posted on 03/06/2013 11:17:44 AM PST by Mount Athos

Syrian rebels are holding hostage a convoy of United Nations peacekeepers in the Golan Heights, and have vowed to detain them until President Bashar Assad withdraws his forces from a Syrian village that has suffered heavy fighting.

The U.N. on Wednesday confirmed that about 20 of its peacekeepers were being held by about 30 armed fighters in the Golan Heights, where the forces are charged with monitoring a cease-fire line between Syria and Israel. The capture, first announced in a rebel video posted on the Internet, was condemned by the U.N. Security Council, which demanded their immediate release.

The U.N. observers were on a regular supply mission Wednesday when they were stopped near an observation post which sustained damage and was evacuated last weekend following heavy combat, according to U.N. deputy spokesman Eduardo del Buey. He said the U.N. peacekeeping mission has dispatched a team to assess the situation and attempt a resolution.

The seizure was the first overt threat to U.N. personnel since the start of the nearly two-year-old uprising against Assad. It came as the Arab League okayed its member states to arm the rebels and as Britain said it would increase aid to the opposition forces.

The U.N. peacekeeping mission has been in place for nearly four decades, monitoring a ceasefire line between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, captured by Israel in a 1967 war.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Israel; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: golanheights; golanheightshostages; syriawar; unpeacekeepers
The press often describes these people as "activists"
1 posted on 03/06/2013 11:17:53 AM PST by Mount Athos
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To: Mount Athos

The hostage takers are Obama’s friends and allies. But why is it in America’s interest to help these thugs to replace the current thug?


2 posted on 03/06/2013 11:23:46 AM PST by Pollster1
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To: Mount Athos

Video Link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwU3IZv79Kg


3 posted on 03/06/2013 11:24:29 AM PST by Mount Athos (A Giant luxury mega-mansion for Gore, a Government Green EcoShack made of poo for you)
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To: Pollster1

As FDR once noted about a Central American dictator, Samosa of Nicaragua, “He may be a son-of-a-bitch, but he’s OUR son-of-a-bitch.”............


4 posted on 03/06/2013 11:38:15 AM PST by Red Badger (Lincoln freed the slaves. Obama just got them ALL back......................)
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To: Mount Athos
This could develop into another cake.
5 posted on 03/06/2013 11:47:22 AM PST by Berlin_Freeper (RETURN TO MECCA [http://youtu.be/zWQkaDUCJ_Y])
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To: Mount Athos

This country is helping the “rebels.”
Is anyone else besides me willing to call the rebels bearded savages?


6 posted on 03/06/2013 11:52:45 AM PST by I want the USA back (Ask me my opinion.)
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To: Mount Athos

“u.n.peacekeepers”?
Are these some of the same “u.n. peacekeepers” who’ve been raping young and old, men and woman in Africa??
The u.n. is garbage/


7 posted on 03/06/2013 12:06:56 PM PST by Joe Boucher ((FUBO))
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To: Joe Boucher

Who to root for here?


8 posted on 03/06/2013 12:11:56 PM PST by dfwgator
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To: Mount Athos

This is no big crisis. Somebody ought to pay the rebels to keep the peacekeepers.


9 posted on 03/06/2013 12:26:20 PM PST by Berosus (I wish I had as much faith in God as liberals have in government.)
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Comment #10 Removed by Moderator

To: Mount Athos
I think the UN should step in and issue a very strongly worded resolution here.

11 posted on 03/06/2013 1:57:37 PM PST by BitWielder1 (Corporate Profits are better than Government Waste)
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To: Mount Athos

Ask the Mossad where the terrorists are holding the Blue helmts, then level the entire town - make the rubble bounce.

Not really a cure, but a good start.
;-)


12 posted on 03/06/2013 2:00:07 PM PST by GladesGuru (In a society predicated upon freedom, it is necessary to examine principles."..)
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To: dennisw; Cachelot; Nix 2; veronica; Catspaw; knighthawk; Alouette; Optimist; weikel; Lent; GregB; ..
Middle East and terrorism, occasional political and Jewish issues Ping List. High Volume

If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.

..................

I presume these are the moderates. Kerry: U.S. more confident arms flow to Syria moderates Arab spring springing all over. Theh "monitors" have been useless, other than to the jihadists, but they shouldn't be held hostage.

13 posted on 03/06/2013 3:36:23 PM PST by SJackson (The Pilgrims—Doing the jobs Native Americans wouldn’t do !)
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