Syria bombing prevents UN rescue (of UN peacekeepers held hostage)

Al Jazeera ^ | 08 Mar 2013 17:54

[Pan_Yan]

A UN convoy sent to Syria to retrieve 21 Filipino peacekeepers seized by fighters has been prevented from carrying out the mission due to the Syrian army's continued bombardment of the town where the hostages were held, a rebel spokesman has said.

Abu Essam Taseel, a representative of the Yarmouk Brigade, said on Friday that the convoy reached the village of Nafea, about a kilometre east of Jamla, where the peacekeepers were detained, but was unable to venture futher because of the government's attacks.

Meanwhile, Herve Ladsous, the UN peacekeeping chief, said he hoped a brief ceasefire could be reached between the rebels and forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad to allow the peacekeepers to be taken to safety.

"Our 21 peacekeepers are detained in the village of Jamla. Apparently they are safe, they have been spread into four locations within that village, in the basements of various houses," Ladsous said after briefing the UN Security Council.

"That particular village (Jamla) is subject to intense shelling by the Syrian armed forces."

[Pan_Yan]

The story is interesting if short on details. It sounds like the rebels agreed to turn the hostages over to the UN but the fighting is too close. I can't imagine the UN mounting an actual hostage rescue assault.

[jimtorr]

It looks to me like what the rebels did was put the UN guys in harms way, hoping for public relations benefits, and perhaps an armed intervention by someone.

[SJSAMPLE]

Google what happened to the Belgian peacekeepers in Rwanda.

No thanks. I know more than a few fellow soldiers that had that duty in the 1980s and putting them out there as potential hostages is a mistake.

[Joe Boucher]

U.N. peacekeepers?
Blue helmet goons?
Waste em.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Pan_Yan.

A UN convoy sent to Syria to retrieve 21 Filipino peacekeepers seized by fighters has been prevented from carrying out the mission due to the Syrian army's continued bombardment of the town where the hostages were held...