43 Fijian soldiers serving as UN peacekeepers in Syria have been detained by an armed group near Syria’s only border crossing with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, a day after militants took the crossing from the Syrian regime.
We have contacted Army Commander Brigadier General Mosese Tikoitoga.
He confirmed that he will have a press conference this hour to update the nation.
CNN is reporting from Golan Heights that those holding the peacekeepers are members of the al Qaeda-linked Al-Nusra Front, one of the groups fighting the regime of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad.
The United Nations has said in a statement that it is making every effort to secure the release of the detained peacekeepers, and to restore the full freedom of movement of the force throughout its area of operation.
The UN has said without elaborating that 81 UN peacekeepers from the Philippines were also “restricted to their positions” near villages in the area.
The al‑Nusra Front is a fierce rival to another Sunni Muslim extremist group in Syria, ISIS, which calls itself the "Islamic State" and has been fighting in Iraq.
Both Al-Nusra Front and ISIS have been fighting the Assad regime and each other in Syria, opposition groups have said, with ISIS gaining control of a large portion of northern and eastern Syria.
The UN said armed groups also detained UN peacekeepers in the area in March and May of 2013, but they eventually were released safely.
Israel seized control of the Golan Heights during the 1967 Six‑Day War and fought off an attempt by Syria in 1973 to retake the rocky plateau.
In 1981, Israel annexed the Golan Heights.
It is considered to be occupied territory by the international community.
