BEIRUT — An international peace envoy to Syria says Syrian rebels have freed 21 U.N. peacekeepers and have handed them to Jordanian authorities.

Mokhtar Lamani, the Damascus representative of the new U.N.-Arab League peace envoy to Syria, says the peacekeepers crossed into Jordan on Saturday.

The peacekeepers, all Filipinos, were seized Wednesday by Syrian rebels who initially said they would only free the hostages if Syrian regime forces withdraw from the area. They were being held in the village of Jamlah, near the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.