Following a ceasefire agreement with Hamas that ended a 50-day war in
Gaza last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he hoped
the restored quiet would continue for a long time.
Speaking in an Israeli cabinet meeting in Ashkelon on Sunday, Netanyahu added: "But we are prepared for every eventuality, in this front and in other fronts, including the Golan border."
Under cover of darkness, 40 Filipino peacekeepers made a daring escape after being surrounded and under fire for seven hours by Syrian rebels in the Golan Heights, Philippine officials said on Sunday, leaving 44 Fijian troops still in the hands of the al-Qaida-linked insurgents.
The peacekeepers became trapped after Syrian rebels entered the UN-patrolled buffer zone between Syria and Israel this past week, seizing 44 Fijian soldiers and demanding that their Filipino colleagues surrender.
The Filipinos, occupying two UN encampments, refused and clashed with the rebels on Saturday.
The first group of 35 peacekeepers was then successfully escorted out of a UN encampment in Breiqa by Irish and Filipino forces on board armoured vehicles.
The remaining 40 peacekeepers were besieged at the second encampment, called Rwihana, by more than 100 gunmen who rammed the camp's gates with their trucks and fired mortar rounds.
Speaking in an Israeli cabinet meeting in Ashkelon on Sunday, Netanyahu added: "But we are prepared for every eventuality, in this front and in other fronts, including the Golan border."
Under cover of darkness, 40 Filipino peacekeepers made a daring escape after being surrounded and under fire for seven hours by Syrian rebels in the Golan Heights, Philippine officials said on Sunday, leaving 44 Fijian troops still in the hands of the al-Qaida-linked insurgents.
The peacekeepers became trapped after Syrian rebels entered the UN-patrolled buffer zone between Syria and Israel this past week, seizing 44 Fijian soldiers and demanding that their Filipino colleagues surrender.
The Filipinos, occupying two UN encampments, refused and clashed with the rebels on Saturday.
The first group of 35 peacekeepers was then successfully escorted out of a UN encampment in Breiqa by Irish and Filipino forces on board armoured vehicles.
The remaining 40 peacekeepers were besieged at the second encampment, called Rwihana, by more than 100 gunmen who rammed the camp's gates with their trucks and fired mortar rounds.
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