Security Council extends UN force along Israeli-Syrian border, noting Mideast tensions
The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Wednesday to extend the U.N. peacekeeping force along the Israeli-Syrian border, warning that events in the region could impact its operations.
The 15-member council renewed the mandate of the more than 1,000-strong force for six months until June 30.
The U.N. Disengagement Observer Force, known as UNDOF, was established in 1974, following the 1973 Yom Kippur war, to monitor the disengagement of Israeli and Syrian forces in the Golan Heights. Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967, and Syria wants the land returned in exchange for peace.
The council resolution, co-sponsored by the United States and Russia, doesn’t directly mention Syria’s ongoing crackdown on demonstrators demanding an end to President Bashar Assad’s regime. But it notes that “evolving conditions in the region could have an impact on the functioning of the force.”
The resolution also expresses “grave concern” at the serious events in UNDOF’s area of operations on May 15 and June 5 when Syrian demonstrators crossed into Israel and “put the long-held ceasefire in jeopardy.” The incidents marked the first serious border violations in decades.