UN Troops Withdraw From Syrian Golan

Hundreds of UN troops withdrew from the Syrian to the Israeli-occupied
sector of the Golan on Monday, an AFP correspondent said, two weeks
after Al-Qaeda-linked rebels kidnapped dozens of the peacekeepers.

They crossed in a UN convoy in the afternoon into the Israeli-occupied
sector, the correspondent said.

There was no confirmation from the United Nations Disengagement
Observer Force (UNDOF), which monitors a 1974 ceasefire between Israel
and Syria on the Golan Heights.

In late August, rebels on the Syrian side including Al-Qaeda affiliate
Al-Nusra Front seized the Quneitra crossing and kidnapped more than 40
Fijian UNDOF troops, before they were released two weeks later.

They also clashed with 75 Filipino members of the force, who
eventually fled a nearby outpost.

Rebels including Al-Nusra have now taken control of most of the Syrian
side of the Golan Heights from forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar
al-Assad, a Britain-based Syria monitoring group said on Saturday.

The fighting has driven thousands of Syrian families in the area from
their homes, the Red Cross said.

"Clashes between government forces and the armed opposition have
intensified in recent days in Quneitra governorate -- in Quneitra city
in particular, where access to clean water, food, and health care is
limited," the International Committee of the Red Cross said in a
statement.

The ICRC said it has provided emergency relief for more than 50,000
people, but warned the number of displaced people was "expected to
grow."

Israel seized 1,200 square kilometres (460 square miles) of the Golan
during the Six-Day War of 1967, then annexed it in 1981 in a move
never recognised by the international community.

Some 510 square kilometres of the Golan remain on the Syrian side of
the ceasefire line, with UNDOF overseeing a buffer zone stretching
some 70 kilometres from Lebanon in the north, to Jordan in the south.

UNDOF's mandate is renewed every six months, and currently runs until
December 31.

Six countries contribute troops to the 1,200-strong UN force on the
Golan: Fiji, India, Ireland, Nepal, the Netherlands and the
Philippines.