(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Dozens of Fijian UN peacekeepers, released by Al Qaeda-linked group Nusra Front in Syria, arrived in Israeli-held territory on the Golan Heights yesterday, an Israeli military spokeswoman said.
"We opened the border and they entered," the Israeli military spokeswoman said, without giving numbers. A witness said after the peacekeepers crossed over they were driven away in a convoy of UN minibuses.
Some 45 Fijian soldiers were taken hostage two weeks ago when Islamist militant groups including Nusra attacked them in the volatile frontier area between Syria and Israel.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed their release and, according to a spokesman, demanded that all parties in the area respect the UN force's "mandate, freedom of movement and the safety and security of its personnel."
Nusra initially said it held the peacekeepers because they were aiding soldiers loyal to President Bashar Al Assad. Later, sources close to Nusra said it demanded the removal of the group from the West's terrorist list. The Nusra group on Wednesday posted a video on its Twitter and YouTube accounts in which the hostages said they expected to be freed soon.
A UN source earlier said the militants had insisted on such a video as a condition of the peacekeepers' release. "We are all safe and alive, and we thank Jabhat Al Nusra for keeping us safe and keeping us alive. I'd like to assure you that we have not been harmed in any way," one hostage, who was not identified, said in the footage.
"We understand that with the limited resources that they have, they have provided the best for us and we truly appreciate it and we thank them. We are thankful that Jabhat Al Nusra has kept its word and that we will be going home."
The head of Fiji's army said on Wednesday the Islamist militant group had dropped all of its earlier demands.
A UN spokesman said in New York no ransom had been requested for the Fijian peacekeepers and none was paid. He said the UN mission in the region remained viable and would continue to fulfil its mandate.
Syria's three-year-old civil war reached the frontier with Israeli-controlled territory last month when Islamist fighters overran a crossing point in the line that has separated Israelis from Syrians in the Golan Heights since a 1973 war.
The fighters then turned on the UN blue helmets, part of a peacekeeping force that has patrolled the ceasefire line for 40 years. After the Fijians were captured, more than 70 Filipinos spent two days besieged at two locations before reaching safety
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