Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

FILIPINO TROOPS PULL `GREATEST ESCAPE' FROM SYRIA
AP ^ | Aug 31, 2014 | BY JIM GOMEZ

Posted on 08/31/2014 12:48:19 AM PDT by Jet Jaguar

Under cover of darkness, 40 Filipino peacekeepers made a daring escape after being surrounded and under fire for seven hours by Syrian rebels in the Golan Heights, Philippine officials said Sunday, leaving 44 Fijian troops still in the hands of the al-Qaida-linked insurgents.

"We may call it the greatest escape," Philippine military chief Gen. Gregorio Pio Catapang said.

The peacekeepers became trapped after Syrian rebels entered the U.N.-patrolled buffer zone between Syria and Israel this week, seizing 44 Fijian soldiers and demanding that their Filipino colleagues surrender with their weapons. The Filipinos in two U.N. encampments refused and clashed with the rebels on Saturday. The first group of 35 peacekeepers was then successfully escorted out of a U.N. encampment in Breiqa by Irish and Filipino forces on board armored vehicles.

The remaining 40 peacekeepers were besieged at the second encampment called Rwihana by more than 100 gunmen who rammed the camp's gates with their trucks and fired mortar rounds. The Filipinos returned fire in self-defense, Philippine military officials said.

(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...


TOPICS: Military/Veterans
KEYWORDS: fiji; filipinotroops; france; iran; iraq; ireland; israel; lebanon; nato; philippines; syria; un; wot

1 posted on 08/31/2014 12:48:19 AM PDT by Jet Jaguar
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Jet Jaguar

2 posted on 08/31/2014 12:51:22 AM PDT by Jet Jaguar (Resist in place.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jet Jaguar

Where did they escape to? Israel?


3 posted on 08/31/2014 12:53:19 AM PDT by GeronL (Vote for Conservatives not for Republicans)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jet Jaguar

We know Israel fired artillery at a Syrian Army post the other day, had it been overrun by the “militants”?


4 posted on 08/31/2014 12:56:52 AM PDT by GeronL (Vote for Conservatives not for Republicans)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: GeronL

The entire article never makes it clear.


5 posted on 08/31/2014 12:57:05 AM PDT by Jet Jaguar (Resist in place.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Jet Jaguar

US strikes “militants” besieging Turkmen in Iraq

5 hrs ago

“Militants” instead of terrorists

Meanwhile conservatives with signs are terrorists


6 posted on 08/31/2014 12:59:20 AM PDT by GeronL (Vote for Conservatives not for Republicans)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jet Jaguar

It is almost as if they do not want the world to know that Israel helped to save the UN guys from Muslims.... even if it was only a little


7 posted on 08/31/2014 1:00:24 AM PDT by GeronL (Vote for Conservatives not for Republicans)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: GeronL

AP does not want to say anything good about Israel.


8 posted on 08/31/2014 1:13:43 AM PDT by iowamark (I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Jet Jaguar
Were these the “good” al Qaeda linked insurgents, or the “bad” al Qaeda linked insurgents?
9 posted on 08/31/2014 1:34:50 AM PDT by Cowboy Bob (They are called "Liberals" because the word "parasite" was already taken.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Cowboy Bob

We`’re supposed to think Al Qaida is good since they only execute their captors on the spot as opposed to ISIS, the JV team, which forces them to strip and frog march through the desert to be executed.


10 posted on 08/31/2014 1:44:12 AM PDT by Vigilanteman (Obama: Fake black man. Fake Messiah. Fake American. How many fakes can you fit in one Zer0?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Jet Jaguar

Prayers up for the Fijian’s!


11 posted on 08/31/2014 2:52:08 AM PDT by melsec (Once a Jolly Swagman camped by a Billabong.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: GeronL

yes. It was Israel.


12 posted on 08/31/2014 4:41:45 AM PDT by left that other site (You shall know the Truth, and The Truth Shall Set You Free.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Jet Jaguar

Pjmedia has a full report

http://pjmedia.com/richardfernandez/2014/08/31/the-battle-of-the-gulang-heights/


13 posted on 08/31/2014 4:58:48 AM PDT by LadyDoc (liberals only love politically correct poor people)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: GeronL

“It is almost as if they do not want the world to know that Israel helped to save the UN guys from Muslims.... even if it was only a little.”

I suspect it was a lot, given their proximity. Same for Syria’s government - we’d rather not think that Assad helped them out too.


14 posted on 08/31/2014 5:01:29 AM PDT by BobL (...part of Agenda 21 (whatever that is))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: BobL

They should have been very motivated.
YouTube shows what happens to their captives.

Too bad we don’t return the complement.


15 posted on 08/31/2014 5:51:19 AM PDT by Flintlock (Deport them ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: Jet Jaguar

Kudos to the fighting Filipinos.

Good work, men.


16 posted on 08/31/2014 6:41:03 AM PDT by BenLurkin (This is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire; or both.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jet Jaguar
Speaking of the Philippines...


17 posted on 08/31/2014 6:53:59 AM PDT by Travis McGee (www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: iowamark

>>AP does not want to say anything good about Israel.<<

Doesn’t the Rothschild family own the AP?


18 posted on 08/31/2014 8:51:40 AM PDT by B4Ranch (Name your illness, do a Google & YouTube search with "hydrogen peroxide". Do it and be surprised.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson