GOLAN HEIGHTS: Japan says worsening security conditions were behind its decision to pull out of the United Nations observer force, stationed along the Israeli/Syrian ceasefire line

Record ID: 466812

  • Title: GOLAN HEIGHTS: Japan says worsening security conditions were behind its decision to pull out of the United Nations observer force, stationed along the Israeli/Syrian ceasefire line
  • Date: 21st December 2012
  • Summary: GOLAN HEIGHTS (DECEMBER 21, 2012) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF ENTRANCE TO UNITED NATIONS DISENGAGEMENT OBSERVER FORCE BASE ON CEASEFIRE LINE BETWEEN ISRAEL AND SYRIA UN FLAG ENTRANCE TO SECOND UNDOF BASE ON CEASEFIRE LINE RAZOR WIRE IN FRONT OF BASE WATCH TOWER IN BASE UN VEHICLE DRIVING ON ROAD SIGN FOR UNDOF BASE UN VEHICLE
  • Embargoed: 5th January 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: West bank
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Reuters ID: LVASBWLSZUIKI5VZ61PCUZ7JU0R
  • Story Text: The Japanese government announced on Friday (December 21) it will pull out of the United Nation's peacekeeping mission in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights due to the worsening security conditions on the border with Syria.
    All 47 Japanese Self-Defense Force members currently still with the U.N. Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) return to Japan in about a month, ending what had been Japan's longest running peacekeeping mission overseas.
    UNDOF numbers 1,050 soldiers from Austria, Philippines, India, Japan, Croatia and Canada. About 800 of them patrol the Syrian side of the 1973 Golan Heights ceasefire line.
    Their mandate is to oversee a dagger-shaped 400 square km (155 square mile), known as the "area of separation", where Syrian military forces are not allowed but where Syrian security, police, customs officers and hunters may carry firearms.
    Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in a 1967 war. Syrian troops are not allowed in the area of separation under a 1973 ceasefire formalized in 1974. Israel and Syria are still technically at war.
    Syria's 20-month civil war recently began to spill over into the zone, which had been largely quiet since the 1973 ceasefire. Stray shells and bullets have landed on the Israeli-controlled side and Israeli troops have fired shells into Syria in response.
    Last month a convoy of U.N. peacekeepers came under fire near the airport in Damascus. A draft Security Council resolution condemned the incident in which it said five peacekeepers were injured.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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