Video footage posted on the Internet on Thursday shows some of a group of 21 Filipino UN peacekeepers seized by Syrian rebels the previous day, with one of them saying they were safe and being cared for.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights posted the video which shows six uniformed members of the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), and an officer who identifies himself as a member of the Filipino battalion of the UN.
The men had been patrolling the sensitive Golan armistice line with Israel yesterday when they were seized.
The Filipino captain said they had been travelling to Jamla when there was bombing and artillery fire, and local people helped them to safety. He said they were distributed to different places "to keep us safe" and they were given food and water.
Their abduction sparked a chorus of international condemnation amid concern that their seizure might prompt more governments to withdraw their contingents from an already depleted UN mission at a time of soaring tensions in the area.