By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 30 --
Two day after
the details of
the
peacekeepers
detained and
restricted in
the Golan
Heights were first
published here,
but with the
UN still refusing
to say who was
detaining and
restricting
them, UN
Peacekeeping
at 7:21 pm on
August 30 provided
this update:
"The
situation on
the ground is
calm but
tense. The 44
Fijians
peacekeepers
of Position 27
remain
detained.
Fighting at
Position 68
had stopped
several hours
ago.
"Also today,
Observation
Post 52,
manned by 3 UN
military
observers and
5 UNDOF
soldiers, came
under fire.
The Mission
subsequently
evacuated all
8 from the
post to a safe
location.
"Later, UNDOF
evacuated
Observation
Post 56,
manned by 3
peacekeepers,
in light of a
nearby
mobilisation
of armed
elements.
UNDOF is
working
tirelessly
towards the
immediate and
unconditional
release of all
the detained
peacekeepers."
In terms of
who is doing
the detaining
and attacking,
the UN
Security
Council at
5:21 pm on
August 30 put
out this Press
Statement
which while
vague narrowed
it down:
"The
members of the
Security
Council
strongly
condemned
continued
attacks today
on United
Nations
Disengagement
Observer Force
(UNDOF)
positions in
the Golan
Heights.
They
reiterated
their strong
condemnation
of the ongoing
detention of
44 Fijian
peacekeepers
from position
27, as well as
the
surrounding of
position 68,
where Security
Council-designated
terrorist
groups
and
non-state
armed actors continue
to trap 40
Filipino
peacekeepers."
The UN
Security
Council cites
"SC-designated
terrorist
groups" soon
after their
resolution on
ISIL and Al
Nusra. Here's
a page with
photos and
rationale.
And
the "non-state
armed actors"?
A previous
grabbing of
Golan
peacekeepers,
not followed
up by UN
Peacekeeping's
Ladsous,
involved the
Al-Yarmouk
Brigades. Now
it's time to
name names,
something that
UN
Peacekeeping
under Herve
Ladsous has
for too long
refused to do.
And so we note
the reporting,
here in Al-Monitor,
that "Jabhat
al-Nusra,
along with
Fallujah-Houran
Brigade, Syria
Revolutionaries
Front, Saraya
al-Jihad, Bayt
al-Maqdis and
Ahrar al-Sham,
began a battle
called 'the
real promise'
to seize
control of the
devastated
city of
Quneitra and
the crossing
connecting it
with the Golan
Heights."
So there are
some names.
Kidnapped for
their own good
has also been
a line UN
Peacekeeping
has used. Now
some are under
fire - but UN
Peacekeeping
under Herve
Ladsous won't
say by whom.
On
August 28 after
the UN belated
announced that
“forty-three
peacekeepers
from the
United Nations
Disengagement
Observer Force
(UNDOF) were
detained early
this morning
an armed group
in the
vicinity of Al
Qunaytirah..
in addition,
another
eighty-one
UNDOF
peacekeepers
are currently
being
restricted to
their
positions in
the vicinity
of Ar
Ruwayhinah and
Burayqah,”
Inner City
Press began
looking into
it.
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