TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - About 75 peacekeeping soldiers from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) have refused to surrender despite being surrounded by Syrian militant rebels in Golan Heights since yesterday, said AFP Commander Col. Roberto Ancan in Manila. The soldiers are trapped in two separate defense bases established by the United Nations (UN) after the rebels surrounded the bases and demanded that they surrender their weapons and the bases.

According to Ancan, his besieged team members are fully-armed and ready to defend the bases at all costs. "They are well-trained and capable of deploying deadly weapons to defend the UN bases," said the commander.

The AFP commander said his soldiers were trapped at two United Nations Disengagement Observer Forces (UNDOF) bases, located about four kilometers away from the Israel-Syria separation zone, which was established by a ceasefire agreement in 1974.

The UN had previously stated that 81 peacekeepers were trapped, but Ancan has since clarified that 40 Filipino soldiers were trapped in one of the bases, while another 35 were besieged at the other.

On Wednesday, a Syrian militant group with links to Al-Qaeda known as Al-Nusra Front opened fire at Israeli soldiers that were patrolling the separation zone. A day later, the same militant group took 43 Fijian peacekeeping soldiers as hostages, after forcing them to surrender their weapons.

Ancan said the rebels had forced an English-speaking Fijian hostage to act as an intermediary - relaying their demands to the Filipino forces which had refused to comply with the rebels’ demands.

President Benigno Aquino described the situation at Golan Heights as 'tense', despite having said to the press that there is no need to worry for the fate of the soldiers. "So far, there is no need to worry. I heard that the situation is stable," said Aquino.

Israel invaded Golan Heights during the Six-Day War in 1967 and claimed the 1,200-square kilometer area as its territory. Technically, Syria and Israel remain at war to this day, and UN peacekeeping forces have been deployed in the area since 1974.

Currently, around 1,200 UNDOF forces from the Philippines, Fiji, India, Ireland, Nepal and the Netherlands are stationed in the disputed area.

Heppy Ratna