Teacher:In this task, you are given a text of many news articles seperated by special token "|||||". Your task is to summarize them.
Teacher: Now, understand the problem? Solve this instance: 1 of 3. A member of the U.N. Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) rides atop an armoured vehicle near the Quneitra border crossing on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights August 28, 2014. 
  
 UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Militants fighting the Syrian army have detained 43 U.N. peacekeepers in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and trapped another 81 in the region, and the world body is working to secure their release, the United Nations said on Thursday. 
  
 The affected peacekeepers are from the Philippines and Fiji, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters. 
  
 "During a period of increased fighting beginning yesterday between armed elements and Syrian Arab Armed Forces within the area of separation in the Golan Heights, 43 peacekeepers from the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) were detained early this morning by an armed group in the vicinity of Al Qunaytirah," the U.N. press office said in a statement. 
  
 It added that another 81 UNDOF peacekeepers were being restricted to their positions in the vicinity of Ar Ruwayhinah and Burayqah. Dujarric said the 81 trapped troops were from the Philippines and the 43 seized ones from Fiji. 
  
 "The United Nations is making every effort to secure the release of the detained peacekeepers, and to restore the full freedom of movement of the force throughout its area of operation," it said. 
  
 Britain's U.N. Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant, president of the Security Council this month, told reporters the trapped peacekeepers were surrounded by Islamist militants. 
  
 The 15-nation Security Council, which was meeting on the humanitarian situation in Syria, was also discussing the issue of the kidnapped peacekeepers, Lyall Grant said. 
  
 The Philippine army said in a statement that militants and had surrounded the Philippine contingent’s encampments with Fijian hostages in tow and demanded that the Filipino troops surrender their firearms. 
  
 "The Philippine peacekeepers held their ground and demonstrated their resolve to defend their positions," it said. "They did not surrender their firearms as they may in turn be held hostage themselves." 
  
 The Security Council issued a statement strongly condemning the seizure of the peacekeepers and calling for their immediate release. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon echoed the council word's in his own statement of condemnation. 
  
 Reporters asked Dujarric if the United Nations was in contact with the group holding the Fijians. He declined to specify who the world body was in contact with but said there was communication under way. "There are contacts being held at different levels, on the mission and on the ground," he said. "They are talking to representatives of various armed groups that they have ... operational contact with. They are talking to countries in the region." 
  
 Dujarric was also asked about the rules for peacekeepers in such situations. 
  
 "In extreme circumstances, these troops are trained and prepared and equipped to defend themselves, but, obviously, each situation has to be analyzed on a case-by-case basis," he said. 
  
 FIJI ARMY CHIEF SAYS COMMITTED 
  
 U.N. officials say that the peacekeepers, whose job is to monitor the cessation of hostilities, carry small arms that are only to be used in extreme circumstances. In previous situations where UNDOF peacekeepers were held hostage, the troops did not use their weapons. 
  
 The Quneitra crossing on the Golan is a strategic plateau captured by Israel in a 1967 Middle East war. Syria and Israel technically remain at war. Syrian troops are not allowed in an area of separation under a 1973 ceasefire formalized in 1974. 
  
 UNDOF monitors the area of separation, a narrow strip of land running about 45 miles (70 km) from Mount Hermon on the Lebanese border to the Yarmouk River frontier with Jordan. There are 1,223 UNDOF peacekeepers from six countries. 
  
 Before the Syrian civil war, now in its fourth year, the region was generally quiet and the peacekeepers had mostly found their biggest enemy to be boredom. 
  
 The force's personnel come from Fiji, India, Ireland, Nepal, Netherlands and the Philippines. The United Nations said this week that the Philippines has decided to pull out of UNDOF, and from a U.N. force in Liberia, which is struggling with an outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus. 
  
 Blue-helmeted U.N. troops were seized by militants in March and May 2013. In both of those cases they were released safely. 
  
 Austria, Japan and Croatia have all pulled their troops out of UNDOF due to the deteriorating security situation and spillover from the Syrian war. 
  
 But Fijian Army Commander Brigadier-General Mosese Tikoitoga told Reuters in an interview on Friday that he would not be recommending to his government that Fiji follow suit. 
  
 "If I was to make any recommendation, I would increase our forces in Syria. That would be my recommendation," he said by phone from Fiji. 
  
 "We will not make any recommendations of pulling out from the U.N. or any other engagement, because our contribution to U.N. peacekeeping - if we don't want to do this, then who else in the world would want to do this?" 
  
 He added that he was confident the Fijians would be released soon based on the strength of their contacts in the Golan Heights region. 
  
 (Additional reporting by Matt Siegel in Sydney and Rosemarie Francisco in Manila; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Tom Brown, Jeremy Laurence and Ken Wills) ||||| SUVA, Fiji (AP) — Forty-four Fijian soldiers working as U.N. peacekeepers remained captive to a militant group in Syria Friday while 75 Philippine soldiers were in tense standoff with the rebels, according to the two Pacific nations. 
  
 Both nations remained hopeful the impasse could be resolved without bloodshed. 
  
 Fijian Commander Brig. Gen. Mosese Tikoitoga said he's been informed his soldiers are alive and unharmed, although hasn't been able to contact them directly. Philippines President Benigno Aquino III said that while the situation remained tense, there was no reason to believe his troops faced immediate danger. 
  
 The events began Thursday morning on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights, an area divided between Israel and Syria. 
  
 Tikoitoga said three vehicles filled with about 150 armed rebels converged on the Fijian camp at about 7:30 a.m. 
  
 He said the rebels demanded the Fijian soldiers leave within 10 minutes and insisted they board the rebel vehicles. The Fijians were then taken by the rebels to an unknown location. He said he's been told they were later transported back to their original post. 
  
 "We are all doing our best to ensure the safety of (those) that are currently being held captive," Tikoitoga said. 
  
 Aquino III, who was travelling south of Manila, told a crowd that the situation involving the Filipino peacekeepers was "stable." 
  
 Brig. Gen. Domingo Tutaan said the rebels surrounded two encampments about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) apart occupied by Filipino peacekeepers and demanded that they give up their firearms, but the peacekeepers refused. "This resulted in a standoff," he said, reading from a statement. 
  
 However, "the potential for de-escalation is still positive," he said. The military leadership in the Philippines was in direct communication with the peacekeepers, he added. 
  
 "Our soldiers are prepared, trained and capable of dealing with this situation and will take risks to fulfill our commitment to international security and peace. The peacekeeping contingent has the right to defend its position and the units in line with United Nations protocols and rules of engagement," he said. 
  
 Tutaan said an English-speaking Fijian peacekeeper was sent by the rebels to tell the Filipinos to give up their weapons. 
  
 Col. Roberto Ancan, commander of the Philippine military's Peacekeeping Operations Center, said the soldiers were armed with assault rifles, light machineguns and pistols and had enough ammunition to defend themselves. 
  
 "We have our rules of engagement wherein we can use deadly force in defense of United Nations facilities," he said. 
  
 Meanwhile, Fiji's commander asked people from his nation to pray for their soldiers. Fiji has one of the world's smaller militaries, comprising just 3,500 troops, of which 434 had been sent to assist with peacekeeping efforts in the Golan Heights. 
  
 The United Nations said initially that 43 Fijian soldiers had been detained and 81 Philippine peacekeepers had been effectively trapped after being restricted to their positions in the vicinity of Ar Ruwayhinah and Burayqah. 
  
 Fiji later clarified that 44 of its soldiers had been captured, while the Philippines military said 75 of its troops were trapped. 
  
 U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday condemned the detention of the Fijians. 
  
 "I call for their immediate and unconditional release as well as action for the scores of peacekeepers from the Philippines who are also affected," he said in Bali, Indonesia. 
  
 He said the U.N. will do everything possible to secure the release of the soldiers. 
  
 Fiji said it would not be pressured into withdrawing from its peacekeeping efforts in the Golan Heights. 
  
 "We will not shy away from that responsibility under these circumstances," Tikoitoga said. "We will continue to work very hard for the release of our men and at the same time we will put all our men on alert to ensure that no further incidents of this sort happen to them." 
  
 The developments have come during a period of increased fighting between armed elements and the Syrian Arab Armed Forces, the office of Ban said in a statement. 
  
 The statement did not specify which armed group is holding the peacekeepers. Various Syrian rebel groups, including the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front, have been fighting the Syrian military near the Golan Heights. 
  
 __ 
  
 AP writer Oliver Teves in Manila contributed to this report. Perry reported from Wellington, New Zealand. |||||
Student:
The UN says that 44 of its Fijian peacekeeping troops have been captured by militants in Syria, while 75 of its Filipino peacekeepers are surrounded by insurgents who want them to surrender their weapons, reports the AP. All of the soldiers are said to be alive, and leaders from both nations and the UN are working to resolve the situation peacefully, reports Reuters. The Fijian soldiers for the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force—a UN initiative with 1,249 troops from six countries who try to keep the peace between Israel and Syria—were at their Golan Heights post on the Syrian side when 150 rebels pulled up yesterday morning, forced the troops to board their vehicles, and drove away to an undisclosed location. Meanwhile, militants surrounded two Filipino UNDOF camps and demanded the soldiers' weapons, which they so far have refused to give up during the standoff. Although countries such as Japan and Croatia have left UNDOF because of security risks, the remaining nations seem committed. "We will not make any recommendations of pulling out … because our contribution to UN peacekeeping—if we don't want to do this, then who else in the world would want to?" a Fiji military commander tells Reuters in a phone interview. It's not clear which anti-Syrian group is responsible.