Nusra Front's Fiji demands

Fiji's military commander said the Nusra Front group, which seized the peacekeepers last Thursday on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights, have issued a number of demands. It comes as negotiations step up between the Nusra Front - Syria's al Qaeda affiliate - and UN hostage negotiators now in Syria.

The demands include the group being removed from the UN terror list, humanitarian aid delivered to parts of the Syrian capital Damascus, and compensation for three of its fighters killed in a shootout with UN officers.

"The rebels are not telling us where the troops are, but they continue to reassure us they are being well-looked after," said Fiji's military commander, Brigadier-General Mosese Tikoitoga.

"They also told us they are ensuring they are taken out of battle areas," Tikiotoga told media in the Fijian capital, Suva.

There were heavy clashes on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights last week, which saw rebels capture a border crossing near the abandoned town of Quneitra on Wednesday. A day later, Nusra Front fighters abducted the Fijian peackeepers and surrounded a two Filipino contingents.

The Filipino troops escaped over the weekend, while the Fijians continue to be held. The abducted group was from the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF).

The UNDOF, whose troops come from Fiji, India, Ireland, Nepal, Netherlands and the Philippines, has been monitoring a 1974 disengagement accord between Syria and Israel following their 1973 war. The number of Fijians captured had previously been put at 43, but it is now understood to be 45.

Heavy fighting

Activists say Syrian government troops were involved in heavy battle against the Nusra Front and allied fighters near the Quneitra crossing on Monday.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said there were casualties on both sides. The organization's founder, Rami Abdelrahman, said the Nusra Front's aim appeared to be "to end once and for all the regime's presence in the area and it also appears that the goal is to expel the international observers."

The Nusra Front has accused the UN of sitting idle and doing nothing to help Syrians since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in March 2011. The group is one of the two most powerful extremist factions fighting Syria's civil war, which the UN says has killed more than 190,000 people.

The group says the Fijians were seized in retaliation for the UN's ignoring "the daily shedding of the Muslims' blood in Syria."

jr/jm (Reuters, AP)