Philippines may withdraw 300 peacekeepers from Golan Heights

The Philippines may pull out a contingent of more than 300 peacekeepers from the UN observer force in the Golan Heights “at the soonest possible time” after four members were abducted by Syrian rebels on Tuesday, the second such incident in two months.

“The department of foreign affairs has recommended a withdrawal of our contingent at the soonest possible time,” said Albert del Rosario, the foreign secretary, in the wake of the abduction.

The Filipino peacekeepers were seized by a group calling itself the Yarmouk Martyrs’ Brigade, who were using them as human shields while fighting government troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad. In March, 21 Filipino peacekeepers were kidnapped by the same group, who later released them.

Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino, the Philippine president, is considering his foreign secretary’s proposal to withdraw the Filipino peacekeepers, said his spokesman. “We’re concerned about the safety of our nationals given that this is the second time this has happened in the same place,” said Ricky Carandang, one of the president’s spokesmen.

The possible Filipino pullout is another sign of fraying of the UN Disengagement Observer Force, which has since 1974 played a symbolically important, if militarily negligible, role in keeping peace in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.

As security in southern Syria deteriorated, Japan and Croatia this year said they planned to withdraw their peacekeepers from the force, and Austria – which supplies the largest contingent – has said it might do so too, if the EU lifts its arms embargo on Syria. Filipino peacekeepers make up more than a third of the almost 1,000-strong UN force and have been in the area for at least three years, the Philippine foreign affairs department said.

Two former UN officials said other member states were unlikely to put forward troops to replace the Philippine contingent if Manila goes ahead with the withdrawal. “The whole architecture that has been going on for three to four decades along that sensitive border with Israel . . . is now in some jeopardy,” said Salman Shaikh, now director of the Brookings Doha Center think-tank.

Michael Williams, a former UN special co-ordinator to Lebanon, also expressed concern about the thinning of UNDOF as regional tensions escalate. “We’re now in a highly dangerous phase,” he said.

The Israeli-Syrian border, for four decades one of the quietest frontier regions in the Middle East, has since April emerged as a growing source of regional tensions after Mr Assad’s forces began leaving the region to defend Damascus. Anti-government and Islamist rebels have filled the vacuum.

The Philippines contributes close to 740 volunteers to the UN’s various peacekeeping forces. Manila began a review of deployments to UN peacekeeping missions after 21 Filipino peacekeepers were seized in the Golan Heights in March.

On several occasions in recent weeks, mortars and other artillery have landed inside Israel, prompting the Israel Defence Forces to return fire. Israel has beefed up its military presence on the border, replacing the reservists it usually uses in the Golan with regular troops.

Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has steered clear of direct involvement in the Syrian civil war, but repeatedly warned it will take action to prevent the transfer of Syria’s advanced weapons to Hizbollah, the militant group based in southern Lebanon, or other rebel groups.

Israel last week conducted two air strikes on southern Syria, according to diplomatic and defence sources in the US. Diplomatic sources said Israel targeted Iranian Fateh-110 missiles en route to Hizbollah in both attacks.

Mr Assad last week encouraged Syrian-based Palestinian groups to retaliate against Israel from the Golan. A defiant Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, Hizbollah’s secretary, on Thursday said Syria had made a strategic decision to supply his organisation with game-changing weapons, and that Israel was mistaken if thought its air strikes could prevent this.

Israel, which undertook a similar strike on a military site in January, has not acknowledged responsibility for any of the attacks.