Syrian rebels and regime forces have exchanged gunfire near a village where UN peacekeepers are being held hostage.
UN officials said rescue efforts would resume on Saturday after a planned mission was called off on Friday because of shelling by Syrian army forces in the area.
The UN force has been monitoring an Israeli-Syrian ceasefire for 40 years without incident. The Filipino peacekeepers, who were taken on Wednesday, are being held in the basements of several houses in the village of Jamlah, below the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.
The peacekeepers were taken by a rebel group calling itself the Martyrs of the Yarmouk Brigades. In the days leading up to the abduction, rebel fighters had overrun several Syrian military checkpoints in the area.
Rebels initially said they would only release the hostages if Syrian forces withdrew from the area.
However, Rami Abdul-Rahman of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an activist group, said the rebels apparently have dropped that demand.
The UN's head of peacekeeping, Hervé Ladsous, urged regime forces on Friday to refrain from retaliation against the village if the UN troops are freed.
"As of now, there is perhaps a hope, but I have to be extremely cautious because it is not done yet, but there is the possibility that a ceasefire of a few hours can intervene which would allow for our people to be released," he said after briefing the UN security council.
The rebels have posted several videos showing the hostages, apparently to show they are being treated well.
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