Twenty-one United Nations peacekeepers captured by Syrian rebels and held for three days in a southern village have crossed safely into neighbouring Jordan.
The Filipino peacekeepers were taken to the border by the Martyrs of Yarmouk rebel brigade on Saturday. It was about 6 miles south of the village of Jamla where they had been held since being captured on Wednesday.
"They are all on the Jordanian side now and they are in good health," said Abu Mahmoud, a rebel who said he had gone into Jordan with them.
In Damascus, Mokhtar Lamani, a representative of the UN-Arab League mediator, Lakhdar Brahimi, confirmed that the men had entered Jordan.
The group was part of the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) that has been monitoring a ceasefire line between Syria and Israel in the Golan Heights since 1974. After their capture insurgents described them as "guests" and said they would be freed once President Bashar al-Assad's forces withdrew from around Jamla and stopped shelling the area.
A brief truce was agreed on Saturday morning to allow for the peacekeepers' safe passage. Although the two-hour ceasefire ended at midday, before the men could be moved, the relative calm prevailed long enough for them to be taken south to Jordan.
A rescue attempt on Friday was delayed by heavy bombardment and abandoned after nightfall, the UN peacekeeping chief, Hervé Ladsous, said.
