UN hopes to free peacekeepers from Syrian rebels on Saturday

It appears the 21 peacekeepers held hostage by Syrian rebels could finally be released on Saturday, following an agreement for a two-hour truce between government troops and opposition forces. The release bid very nearly failed on Friday.

The UN head of peacekeeping Herve Ladsous reported that the men were held in the basements of houses close to the border with Israel’s Golan Heights, which has been battered by heavy shelling from Syria.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the two sides agreed for a ceasefire to take effect between 10am and 12 pm (8-10 GMT), a window for the UN to retrieve the captives. Arrangements had already been in place for Friday, but the late hours and the darkness were deemed unsafe conditions for such an operation.

The rebels’ spokesman claimed that the convoy had been within a kilometer of its destination, but couldn’t continue because of heavy air bombardment of the area by Syrian government forces.