UNITED NATIONS, Dec 22 (NNN-AGENCIES) – The Security Council yesterday adopted a resolution, to extend the mandate of the UN peacekeeping force on the Golan Heights for six months, till June 30, 2022.
The UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) on the Golan Heights has been tasked to maintain a cease-fire between Israel and Syria since 1974.
Resolution 2613, which won the unanimous support of the 15-member council, stresses the obligation of both Israel and Syria to fully respect the terms of the 1974 cease-fire, and calls on them to exercise maximum restraint and prevent any breaches of the cease-fire and the area of separation, or the buffer zone.
It underscores that, there should be no military activity of any kind in the buffer zone, including military operations by Syrian government forces.
It underlines that UNDOF remains an impartial entity and stresses the importance to halt all activities that endanger UN peacekeepers on the ground, and to accord UN personnel on the ground the freedom to carry out their mandate safely and securely.
The resolution calls on all groups other than UNDOF, to abandon all UNDOF positions, and return the peacekeepers’ vehicles, weapons, and other equipment.
UNDOF was established in May, 1974, following the agreed disengagement of the Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights that ended the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
The situation in UNDOF’s area of operations had been quiet until the spillover of the Syrian civil war in 2012. The mission’s observation role has been significantly reduced, since its Sept, 2014, relocation from the Bravo (Syrian) side to the Alpha (Israeli-occupied) side because of the Syrian civil war.
Yesterday’s resolution welcomes UNDOF’s ongoing efforts to consolidate its presence and to intensify its operations in the buffer zone, including its intent to resume inspections in the “area of limitation” on the Syrian side — an extension of 25 km from the Bravo line.– NNN-AGENCIES
