UN withdraws many peacekeepers from Golan Heights

UNITED NATIONS/GOLAN HEIGHTS — The United Nations said Monday it has withdrawn its peacekeepers from many positions on the occupied Golan Heights because of escalating fighting in the war between Syrian government forces and opposition fighters, according to an Associated Press report.

UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq told The Associated Press that he doesn’t think every single post has been vacated. The UN peacekeepers withdrawn Monday have been moved to the Israeli side of the border.

“But obviously the situation has deteriorated across a wide span of the territory so we’ve had to leave from a lot of places,” he said.

The 1,200-strong UN force has patrolled a buffer zone between Syria and Israel since 1974, a year after the Arab-Israeli war. 

For nearly four decades, UN monitors helped enforce a stable truce between Israel and Syria but the spill over from the Syrian war has led to the abduction of peacekeepers four times since March 2013, made troop contributors wary, and led several countries to withdraw their soldiers.

The UN decision follows last week’s release of 45 Fijian peacekeepers captured on the Syrian-controlled side of the Golan Heights by fighters from Al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front.

The fighting has driven thousands of Syrian families in the area from their homes, the Red Cross told Agence France Presse.

“Clashes between government forces and the armed opposition have intensified in recent days in Quneitra governorate — in Quneitra city in particular, where access to clean water, food, and healthcare is limited,” the International Committee of the Red Cross said in a statement to AFP.

The ICRC said it has provided emergency relief for more than 50,000 people, but warned the number of displaced people was “expected to grow”.

Israel seized 1,200 square kilometres of the Golan during the Six-Day War of 1967, then annexed it in 1981 in a move never recognised by the international community.

Some 510 square kilometres of the Golan remain on the Syrian side of the ceasefire line, with UNDOF overseeing a buffer zone stretching some 70 kilometres from Lebanon in the north, to Jordan in the south.

UNDOF’s mandate is renewed every six months, and currently runs until December 31.

Six countries contribute troops to the 1,200-strong UN force on the Golan: Fiji, India, Ireland, Nepal, the Netherlands and the Philippines.