( CNN ) -- Twenty-one U.N. peacekeepers detained by Syrian rebels this week could soon be released , representatives for the United Nations and a Syrian opposition group said Friday . `` All the parties '' have agreed to a release of the 21 held since Wednesday , and the U.N. peacekeeping agency has dispatched a team to help collect them , U.N. spokeswoman Josephine Guerrero said . But the effort was called off Friday due to darkness , and the team will try again on Saturday , Guerrero said . Rebels had detained the peacekeepers , identified by the Philippine government as Filipino , in a Syrian village near the Golan Heights . Syrian opposition coalition President Moaz al-Khatib said Thursday that the rebels took the peacekeepers for their own safety due to fighting there . The peacekeepers reportedly are unharmed . The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights , a London-based Syrian opposition group , said Friday that the peacekeepers are expected to be released between 10 a.m. and noon Saturday in Syria , citing one of its rebel contacts . The release is contingent on a cease-fire between government forces and rebels around the village of Jamlah , where the peacekeepers are said to be held , the group said . Government forces shelled the area Friday , according to the Syrian National Coalition , the principal Syrian opposition group . The rebels will hold Syrian President Bashar al-Assad 's regime responsible `` for any harm that would happen to the U.N. employees , '' a statement from the coalition said . Late Friday , a man who said he was one of the peacekeepers told the Arabic news network Al-Arabiya via Skype that he expects to be released Saturday . `` The reason for the delay is the shelling , '' he told Al-Arabiya . `` We were about to be released this evening , but the shelling resumed . All 21 peacekeepers are safe and treated well . '' CNN could not independently verify the authenticity of the interview . Earlier this week , a video posted on the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights ' YouTube website showed six of the peacekeepers sitting in a room . CNN could n't immediately verify the authenticity of the video . In it , one peacekeeper gives a statement to the camera : . `` We are here safe in this place . We are here because while we are passing through position ( unintelligible ) to Jamlah , there were bombing and artillery fires . This is why we stopped and , civilian people tell us , for our safety , and distributed us in different places to keep us safe . And they give us good accommodation and give us food to eat and water to drink . '' The rebels have said the peacekeepers entered the village near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights , an area where peacekeepers should not be and where intense fighting has been raging for days between rebels and government forces . The rebels initially said they suspected the peacekeepers were trying to aid their enemy -- the regime of President Bashar al-Assad . The United Nations said the peacekeepers were on a `` regular supply mission . '' Two other videos that rebels posted on YouTube present the rebels ' point of view . In one , a rebel insists that the peacekeepers will be held until al-Assad 's forces withdraw from the village of al-Jamlah . The other video shows rebels walking near several U.N. trucks . `` This U.N. force entered Jamlah village to assist the regime ... and ( the U.N. is ) claiming that they are here just to stop the clashing , '' a rebel says . Members of the U.N. Security Council condemned the detention of the peacekeepers . The unrest in Syria began in March 2011 , when al-Assad 's government began a brutal crackdown on demonstrators calling for greater political freedoms . The protest movement eventually devolved into an armed conflict , one that has devastated cities and towns around the country and spurred more than 720,000 Syrians to flee to neighboring nations , according to the U.N. refugee agency . This story was reported by CNN 's Richard Roth from the U.N. and Hamdi Alkhshali from Atlanta , and written by Jason Hanna in Atlanta . CNN 's Amir Ahmed contributed from Atlanta .
U.N. : Team sent to release peacekeepers , but on Friday , pickup delayed a day . Syrian opposition group : Release set for Monday morning , if cease - fire holds . They were taken Wednesday from area near the Syrian border ; U.N. demands their release .