Syrian rebels say they have seized a convoy of United Nations observers near the Golan Heights, according to videos posted on the Internet site YouTube on Wednesday by a violence monitoring group.A young man saying he was from the “Martyrs of Yarmouk” brigade said the convoy would not be released until forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad withdrew from the village of Jamla, a mile east of the ceasefire line with the Israeli-occupied Golan.
Surrounded by several rebel fighters with assault rifles, the man stood in front of a two white armoured vehicles and a truck with “UN” written on them. At least five people seen sitting in the vehicles were wearing United Nations light blue helmets and bullet-proof vests.
“The command of the Martyrs of Yarmouk announced that it is holding forces of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force until the withdrawal of forces of the regime of (President) Bashar al-Assad from the outskirts of the village of Jamla,” said the man, wearing civilian clothes.
“If no withdrawal is made within 24 hours we will treat them as prisoners,” he said, accusing them of collaborating with Assad's forces to push the rebels out of Jamla. UNDOF supervises a 1974 ceasefire agreement between Syria and Israel.
Reporting by Oliver Holmes; Editing by Michael Roddy
