UN and Syria rebels negotiate over kidnapped peacekeepers

Syrian military forces resumed attacks against groups in different neighbourhoods UN officials said negotiations were under way Thursday with Syrian rebels who seized 21 UN peacekeepers in the Golan Heights ceasefire zone between Syria and Israel, as rebels took total control of the key northern city of Raqa.
Syrian rebels on Wednesday abducted the peacekeepers, who are from the Philippines, diplomats said, as the frontiers of their war against President Bashar Assad spread further.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon called for their "immediate" release and demanded the Syrian government and rebels respect their "freedom of movement and security".
The UN said it was trying to negotiate the release of the soldiers, while a rebel spokesman said the troops would be held until Assad's forces pull back from a Golan village.
Officials in Manila urged the troops, who are part of a 300-strong Filipino peacekeeping unit, to be released immediately. Philippine armed forces spokesman Colonel Arnulfo Burgos told AFP the rebels were treating the hostages well.
"They are being treated as guests, not as hostiles," Burgos said, adding: "We have high hopes that they are going to be released soon."
Russia's UN ambassador Vitaly Churkin, who read the Security Council statement on the situation, said the rebels have made demands directed at the Syrian government, but gave no details.
The United Nations has reported a growing number of incidents in the Golan over the past year. It has sent extra armoured vehicles and communications equipment to reinforce security for the mission.
The Britain-based watchdog Syrian Observatory for Human Rights distributed two amateur videos with statements by the rebel Yarmuk Martyrs Brigade claiming the capture.
A man identified as brigade spokesman Abu Kaid al-Faleh said the peacekeepers would not be freed until Syrian regime forces pull out of the area.
"If they do not withdraw, these men (UN troops) will be treated as prisoners," he said, accusing the UN Disengagement Force (UNDOF) - which monitors a 1974 ceasefire deal between Syria and Israel - of working with the army to try to suppress the insurgency.
UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous told reporters after briefing the Security Council that negotiations are underway "and the matter is mobilising all our teams".
Around 103 Syrians were killed on Wednesday during clashes that broke out between the Syrian governmental troops and the Free Syrian Army.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that Syria’s military aircraft bombed the sites of the Syrian opposition, while the Free Syrian Army attacked military sites related to the Syrian regime of President Bashar Assad.
The Syrian television said that the Syrian military forces resumed its attacks against groups in different neighbourhoods of Homs, adding that the Syrian opposition witnessed increasing losses during these attacks. The media office for the Free Syrian military council in Damascus said that the opposition army attacked a number of military sites related to the Syrian regime.
Free Syrian Chief of Staff, Army Seleim Edrees said, “We want to end the current conflict immediately, but the Syrian regime refuses to do so.” He added that the Syrian regime would be overthrown when it would lose its battle in Damascus. He stressed that Iran provides the Syrian regime with unlimited support and also demanded Lebanese party, Hezbollah, to suspend its interference in Syrian affairs.
Edrees also stated that the government troops had turned to attacking villages and mosques - including Khaled Bin el-Waleed Mosque - as well as a number of churches.
The chief then stressed that the Free Syrian Army would never attack any place of worship, adding that if accidentally done so "we would repair any damages at our own expense once we succeed in Syria's revolution."
On the diplomatic side, the Council of the Arab Foreign Ministries called upon the Syrian Coalition of the Opposition Parties to form an executive authority to occupy the seat of Syria. The Arab Summit is scheduled to be held in March.
Iraq and Algeria refused the call adopted by the Arab foreign ministers, stressing that such a call contradicts with the rules of the charter of the Arab League, while Lebanon distanced itself from the decision. The Arab Council of the Foreign Ministers renewed its confirmation of National Coalition of Syria’s Opposition as the legal representative of the Syrian people.
Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour demanded the Arab League to cancel the suspension of Syria's membership to pave the way for reaching a political solution for the Syrian crisis. He stressed the need for contact with the Syrian regime to resolve the current crisis.
This has led to negative reactions in Lebanon. Former Prime Minister Rafik el-Hariri criticised the call of Lebanon’s foreign minister for dissolving Syria's membership in the Arab League.