Filipino peacekeepers in Golan Heights to be replaced soon

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - The 332 Filipino peacekeepers that have extended their term of duty several times in the Golan Heights will be replaced by a similar number of troops in December, the Defense Secretary said today.

"I think it will be sometime December," Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said when asked when the Filipino peacekeepers in the Golan Heights, headed by Lieutenant Colonel Nolie Anquiliano, will return to the country.

The troops left Manila for the Golan Heights in November last year for a six-month tour of duty under the multi-national United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF). However, their stay in the troubled territory has been extended a few times due to violence.

The Philippine government conducted a review of the deployment of peacekeepers to the Golan Heights following the abduction of 25 Filipino peacekeepers  21 of them were snatched last March and the four others two months later.

Gazmin said President Benigno Aquino III has decided to send a batch of peacekeepers to the Golan Heights after the United Nations agreed on some conditions, like restoring UNDOF's full strength of 1,250 and giving them additional protection for chemical warfare.

"That was already addressed," he said.

In its website, UNDOF said there were 1,166 troops assigned with the force as of Aug. 31. These troops are from Philippines, Fiji, India, and Ireland.