AlQa'dah 2, 1435, Aug 28, 2014, SPA -- An armed group detained 43 U.N. peacekeepers during fighting in Syria early Thursday and another 81 peacekeepers are trapped, the United Nations said. The peacekeepers were detained on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights during "a period of increased fighting between armed elements and the Syrian Arab Armed Forces," U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's office said in a statement. It said that another 81 peacekeepers are "currently being restricted to their positions in the vicinity of Ar Ruwayhinah and Burayqah." The United Nations did not specify which armed group is holding the peacekeepers. Various Syrian groups, including Nusra Front, have been fighting the Syrian military near the Golan Heights crossing point on the disputed border between Syria and Israel. The statement said that the world body "is making every effort to secure the release of the detained peacekeepers," who are part of UNDOF, the mission that has been monitoring a 1974 disengagement accord between Syria and Israel after their 1973 war.
