20 UN peacekeepers kidnapped by Syrian militias

Syria calls the Arab League’s decision ‘preparation for intervention’ Syrian opposition forces have announced the deaths of 27 people as clashes continue across the country.“The Damascus countryside, Homs, Daraa, Quneitra, Reqaa and Idlib were all subjected to heavy artillery bombardments,” activist sources reported on Thursday.
Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters also downed a warplane in Idlib, while sustaining bombing campaigns on the Meng and Neirab military air bases in Alepoo.
In Homs the FSA also destroyed three government checkpoints on the city’s outskirts.
The day before 220 officers defected from the Syrian army in Damascus and Deraa, as Local Coordination Committees reported 141 people dead, including 11 women and 12 children.
UN deputy spokesman Eduardo Del Buey has meanwhile confirmed the kidnap of 20 Philippine peacekeepers in the occupied Golan Heights, close to Syria’s border with Israel.
An unknown group of armed Syrian militants reportedly detained the UN observers
A video posted online by activists, circulated by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), showed a group of armed rebels standing around at least three white UN vehicles, allegedly in the village of Jamlah bordering Israel in Daraa province.
A man identified as Abu Qaed al-Faleh, spokesman for the Martyrs of Yarmouk Brigades, announced the group is holding the peacekeepers until Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces withdraw from Jamlah.
"They will not be released until after Assad's forces withdraw from the village of Jamlah bordering Israel," the man said.
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights chief Rami Abdul Rahman quoted a Brigades spokesman as saying the UN peacekeepers were detained one kilometre from the Golan Heights ceasefire line.
Syrian Foreign Ministry officials have meanwhile criticised an Arab League decision to formally recognise the country’s opposition, claiming it represents “preparation for foreign military intervention” and could block attempts to hold national dialogue talks.
Syrian National Coalition (SNC) politicians praised the Arab League, heralding recognition as a “very important and radical change.”
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari condemned the decision following a meeting with his Egyptian opposite number, Kamel Amr.
Zebari reportedly criticised recognition of the SNC as “an attempt to interfere in Syrian affairs.”
“The Syrian seat should not be handed over to the opposition, otherwise we would have to hand over Egypt’s seat to the National Salvation Front (NSF),” he said.
Amr dismissed the Iraqi’s officials remarks as “joking,” suggesting he was not making a serious suggestion.
An Arab League resolution calling for the SNC to elect its first representative to attend an organisational summit in Doha later this month was announced on Wednesday.
The Arab League also proposed arming the Syrian opposition, in an unprecedented development in 23 months of conflict.