UNDOF peacekeepers (file)
UNDOF peacekeepers (file)Flash 90

44 Fijian UN peacekeepers have been released by Al Qaeda's Nusra Front (Jabhat Al-Nusra) in Syria, according to Al Jazeera.

The soldiers are scheduled to cross into Israel later today, from where they will be transported back home.

The report comes not long after a video of the captives - apparently filmed two days ago - was released, in which one of the Fijian soldiers announces their imminent release, and says all are alive and well.

"We are all safe and alive, and we thank Jabhat Al-Nusra for keeping us safe and keeping us alive and I would like to assure you that we have not been harmed in any way," says the soldier, identified by the Fijian military as Captain Savenaca Rabuka.

The soldiers were abducted by Syrian rebels late last month during a still-ongoing offensive to seize the Quneitra region bordering Israel from regime forces, and are members of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) which was deployed to maintain the ceasefire between Israel and Syria following the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

The video followed false reports which claimed the soldiers were about to be released - reports which were later detracted by the Fijian army.

The UNDOF peacekeepers were abducted late August by Syrian rebels during a still-ongoing offensive against pro-regime forces in the Quneitra region, which borders Israel.

70 Filipino peacekeepers were also attacked, but were rescued with the help of the Israeli army, allegedly after refusing orders by the UN to surrender to the rebels and bravely holding out under fire.

The Nusra Front had said it would try the Fijian soldiers "under Islamic law" and issued a series of demands for their release, which reportedly included the release from prison of several prominent Al Qaeda terrorists. 

Other reports suggested the group was also demanding the removal of the Nusra Front from a UN terror blacklist, and humanitarian aid for a town just outside Damascus that is an Al-Nusra stronghold.

But intense negotiations for the soldier's freedom appear to have borne fruit.