An Al Qaeda-affiliated faction operating in a southern province of Syria freed 45 Fijian peacekeepers in Golan Heights on Thursday, according to the United Nations.

The Nursa Front, Al Qaeda's "branch" in Syria, had captured the peacekeepers, members of the United Nations Disengagment Observer Force (UNDOF), in August at the Qunaiterah border crossing between Israel and Syria.

In a 15-minute video released Wednesday by the Nusra Front's official social media channel, the YouTube video opens with two bespectacled bearded men standing in what appears to be an orchard before the seated 45 Fijian peacekeepers, promising they would be released.  

Although the images could not be independently verified, a spokeswoman for the Fiji government confirmed that the soldiers shown in the video were the ones who were captured.

One of the men, identified as Sheikh Sami Al-Aridi, says that although the militant group had wanted to exchange the peacekeepers for prisoners held in government detention centers and food and medical aid brought to rebel-controlled areas, they had now dropped all of those conditions.

"During these events, we received word that a brother of ours... had given those hostages safe passage," says Aridi, gesturing to the man at his side. "So we must release those prisoners in application of the safe passage granted to those prisoners by this brother."

In Sharia or Islamic law, the granting of safe passage to an enemy combatant in times of conflict must be honored by all Muslims and obligates them to ensure the person's safety.

The other man, a doctor with the nom de guerre Abu Mus'ab Barwi, then explains that Nusra Front fighters had been forced to use the UNDOF position as a corridor to secure an enemy position.

"I spoke to the [Fijian] captain... and I explained that the aim was only to reduce casualties during this attack," he says. Once the operation was complete, he had promised the Fijians that they would not be hurt, and even the contents of their headquarters would not be affected.

The video closes with a speech by a Fijian soldier, Captain Savenaca Rabuka according to the Fijian government, who says "this is a happy day and we have been informed we will be released soon, and we are all very happy to be going home."

The Syrian civil war, now in its fourth year, has killed over 190,000 people and devastated wide swaths of the country. It has also destabilized Syria's borders, including the Syrian-Israeli border near the Golan Heights. UN peacekeepers have been stationed in the area since 1974.

Qatari news outlet Al-Jazeera has reported the transfer of the UNDOF peacekeepers would begin Thursday.
(LA Times)