Distinction without a difference. Al Qaeda was moving to surround the force. Once surrounded, they could hand over their weapons (i.e. surrender) or fight and be massacred. Your loyalty to your compatriot is understandable, but not exactly disinterested. I wonder what your response would have been if a Filipino general had given the order to an Indian unit.
Depends. I posted the article because of the one sided nature of the discussion. I simply have no way to figure out for myself what the actual thinking here was. It is still a fact that Fijian UN soldiers were captive and unlike officers being in command of their own forces, UN operations are handled more delicately. I don’t think the Fijians would have been delighted if their soldiers were harmed as a result of any order from the UN force commander. The General in question had moved himself into Israel & was working with both the Israeli army & the Syrians to deal with the situation when the Filipinos did what they did.
Btw, Indian units get told all the time in UN operations to not take offensive action. That’s par for the course.