Syrian Rebels Still Holding Filipino Peacekeepers

BEIRUT - Rebels holding 21 U.N. peacekeepers near the Golan Heights in southern Syria say government forces must leave the area before they free their "guests", an activist in touch with the fighters said on Thursday, reports GMANews/Reuters. Rami Abdelrahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights quoted a spokesman for the "Martyrs of Yarmouk" rebel brigade as saying the peacekeepers were being held as "guests" in the village of Jamla, about a mile (1.6 km) from a ceasefire line with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.