MANILA, June 19 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations and the United States appealed to the Philippines not to withdraw its peacekeepers from the Golan Heights because the withdrawal may further escalate tension there, Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said Wednesday.
"They're saying that the situation, if that occurs, will create maximum volatility in the area," Del Rosario told reporters.
The Philippine government sent a team to Golan Heights last weekend to assess the safety of its 343 peacekeepers.
Del Rosario said the report of the assessment team will guide the president's decision if the Philippines will pull out by Aug.3 or continue beyond that. The Filipinos troops will stay in Golan Heights at least until Aug. 3, he added.
Some 25 Filipino peacekeeping troops were seized in two separate occasions by rebels in March and May, prompting the Philippine government to re-assess its troop presence there.
The Philippines has a total of 742 police, military and jail personnel in eight U.N. peacekeeping operations, namely Haiti, Liberia, South Sudan, Cote d' Ivoire, the disputed territory of Abyei between Sudan and South Sudan, the India-Pakistan border and Afghanistan.
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