The bulk of Filipino peacekeepers of more than 240 soldiers have pulled out two weeks early from the UN mission in the Golan Heights due to escalating fighting in the border region, the Philippine military said today.
The 244 Filipino troops will arrive in Manila on a UN chartered plane today.
A smaller batch of 85 soldiers will arrive Sunday from the Golan, ending a five-year Philippine peacekeeping role that has been marred by Syrian rebel kidnappings and attacks, military spokesman Lt Col Ramon Zagala said.
Among the homebound Filipino peacekeepers arriving Friday are dozens of soldiers who recently battled al-Qaida-linked Syrian rebels.
The militants surrounded two UN encampments on the Syrian side of the Golan buffer zone but the Filipinos defied a rebel demand for them to lay down their arms and surrender.
The Filipinos fought back then managed to escape from the encampments, ending a dangerous standoff.
"They will receive a hero's welcome," Zagala said, adding a motorcade was planned if the stormy weather in Manila eases. They "exhibited courage, bravery and commitment while in the face of overwhelming threat."
The 1,200-strong UN force has patrolled a buffer zone between Syria and Israel since 1974, a year after the Arab-Israeli war.
For nearly four decades, UN monitors helped enforce a stable truce between Israel and Syria, but the spillover from the Syrian war has led to the abductions of peacekeepers in the last two years, making countries contributing troops wary and prompting several governments to withdraw their troops.
Security conditions on the Syrian side of the Golan, however, have rapidly deteriorated in recent days, directly threatening the safety of UN peacekeepers.
The United Nations said Monday it had withdrawn its peacekeepers from high-risk Golan positions because of escalating fighting between Syrian government forces and opposition fighters and relocated its forces to the Israeli side of the border.
Zagala said the relocated peacekeepers had filed up a UN encampment on the Israeli side of Golan, prompting UN and Philippine military officials to decide to send the Filipino forces home about two weeks earlier than scheduled.
Alarmed by the deteriorating security in the Golan, the Philippine government has earlier notified the United Nations it would no longer send fresh forces when the current Filipino force ends its tour in the volatile region in October.
The UN relocation of peacekeepers follows the two-week abduction of 45 Fijian peacekeepers, who were freed last week. They had been captured on the Syrian-controlled side of the Golan by fighters from the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front.
