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UN poised to return peacekeepers to Syrian border
The United Nations (UN) is said to have agreed to return its observer force to the Syrian side of the Israel-Syria border, eighteen months after UN troops left the Syrian Golan Heights entirely due to the dangers of the Syrian Civil War, redeploying to posts inside Israel.
The UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) was established in 1974 in the aftermath of the Yom Kippur War, administering a buffer zone between the two countries. Until 2013, the force comprised around one thousand soldiers, with large contingents from Austria and Philippines in particular. However, fearing for the safety of their troops, Austria removed its contingent in 2013 and the following year UN forces were kidnapped on three occasions.
As a result, the UN removed its soldiers from the Syrian side of the border, which have since been based solely in Israel. They have been tasked with monitoring Israeli troop movements and activities, while territory in the Syrian Golan Heights has seen fierce fighting and the increasing presence of Islamist terror groups, including the al-Qaeda affiliated al-Nusra Front. Meanwhile, staunch Assad ally Hezbollah has instigated attacks on Israeli forces near the border on several occasions.
Yediot Ahronot’s military affairs correspondent Alex Fishman reports that the UN has agreed to return UNDOF forces to Syria. Although Israel does not expect the peacekeepers to intervene in the fighting, Fishman says that with international forces on the ground, it will make it harder for the UN Security Council to ignore terrorist and hostile activities in the area, including those directed at Israel.
It is thought that Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin last week asked Russia’s President Vladimir Putin to help re-establish the UNDOF force, during a meeting in Moscow. Putin is said to have reacted positively to the request. Rivlin is also reported to have expressed concerns to Rivlin over Iran and Hezbollah’s ambitions to establish a strong presence along the Israel-Syria border. A renewed UN presence could help reduce the chances of such a scenario.