BEIRUT -- Syrian rebels clashed with government troops on Monday in the Golan Heights, where al-Qaida-linked insurgents abducted United Nations peacekeepers last week, activists said.
The fighting was focused around the town of Hamidiyeh in Quneitra province near the disputed frontier with Israel, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The Observatory said there were casualties on both sides but did not have exact figures.
Syria's state news agency said the military killed "many terrorists" and destroyed a heavy machine gun in the fighting. The Syrian government refers to those trying to oust President Bashar Assad as terrorists.
Heavy clashes have raged in the area since Syrian rebels captured a border crossing near the abandoned town of Quneitra on Wednesday. One day later, fighters from al-Qaida's Syria branch, the Nusra Front, abducted 45 Fijian peacekeepers and surrounded two Filipino contingents serving in the U.N. mission that monitors the buffer zone between Israel and Syria.
The Filipino troops escaped during the weekend, while the Fijians are still being held by the Nusra Front. The U.N. says that it is seeking the Fijians' immediate and unconditional release. It says it has not established where the peacekeepers are being held.
The Philippine military said Monday that a U.N. peacekeeping commander in the Golan Heights should be investigated for purportedly asking Filipino troops to surrender to the Syrian rebels. Gen. Gregorio Pio Catapang said he advised the peacekeepers not to lay down their arms, and they defied the U.N. peacekeeping commander's order.
"I told them not to follow the order because that is a violation of our regulation, that we do not surrender our firearms and, at the same time, there is no assurance that you will be safe after you give your firearms," Catapang said.
"Our stand is, we will not allow our soldiers to become sacrificial pawns in order to save the Fijians," Catapang said. "They should look for other ways and means to save the Fijians."
U.N. Disengagement Observer Force, which oversees the peacekeepers' mission did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
The rebels' targeting of the U.N. mission has touched off criticism among some nations contributing troops to the peacekeeping force about how the Golan Heights operation functions.
Ireland, which contributes a 130-member armored rapid response unit to the U.N. mission, warned Monday that it would not replace its troops next month if U.N. leaders in New York do not agree on strengthening the force's firepower, command and control, and rules of engagement.
An Irish withdrawal could deal a final blow to the U.N. mission, which saw Austria and Croatia pull their forces last year over fears they would be targeted. The Philippines, meanwhile, has said it would bring home its peacekeepers after their tour of duty ends in October.
The group that abducted the peacekeepers, the Nusra Front, published a statement online Sunday that included photos showing what it said were the captured Fijians, along with 45 identification cards. The group said the men were "in a safe place and in good health."
The statement mentioned no demands or conditions for the peacekeepers' release.
The Nusra Front accused the U.N. of doing nothing to help the Syrian people since the uprising against Assad began in March 2011. It said the Fijians were seized in retaliation for the U.N.'s ignoring "the daily shedding of the Muslims' blood in Syria" and even colluding with Assad's army "to facilitate its movement to strike the vulnerable Muslims" through a buffer zone in the Golan Heights.
Human Rights Watch said Monday that it has credible evidence that the Islamic State group has used ground-fired cluster munitions in at least one place in northern Syria. These weapons explode in the air, releasing hundreds of tiny bomblets. Those that fail to explode pose a long-lasting danger to civilians.
The New York-based rights group said that reports from local Kurdish officials as well as photographs indicate the extremists fired cluster munitions July 12 and Aug. 14 during clashes with Kurdish forces around Ayn Arab near the Turkish border. Five people were killed in the attacks, Human Rights Watch said.
It was not clear how Islamic State fighters had acquired the weapons, the group said.
The Syrian government has used at least 249 cluster munitions since mid-2012, according to Human Rights Watch.
Also Monday, Lebanon's military received the remains of a soldier who was held by Islamic militants, the state-run news agency said. The soldier, Sgt. Ali Sayid, was thought decapitated.
Sayid's remains were delivered to a military checkpoint in the Lebanese border town of Arsal, the National News Agency reported. The Lebanese military would not confirm the body's identity, only saying in a statement that its intelligence unit received the body and DNA tests would be performed.
Sayid disappeared from Lebanon about the time militants from Syria attacked Arsal in early August, killing and kidnapping soldiers and police. The militants included fighters from the Islamic State group and the al-Qaida linked Nusra Front, becoming the most serious spillover of violence into Lebanon from Syria's civil war.
Information for this article was contributed by Shawn Pogatchnik, Jim Gomez and staff members of The Associated Press.
A Section on 09/02/2014