UN extends Golan Heights peacekeepers
AFP
UNITED NATIONS- The UN Security Council on Wednesday approved another six-month extension for the peacekeeping force monitoring ceasefire compliance in the Golan Heights between Israel and Syria.
The council's 15 members voted unanimously to extend the mandate, which has been in place for 36 years, to June 30, 2011.
The UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) was established in May 1974 after the disengagement of Israeli and Syrian forces in the Golan Heights.
The UNDOF has since remained in the area "to maintain the ceasefire between the Israeli and Syrian forces and to supervise the implementation of the disengagement agreement," the UN says. It has 1,046 troops.
Israel captured the strategic Golan Heights in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in 1981.
Syria has always demanded the full return of the territory in any peace deal.
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Israel captured the strategic Golan Heights in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in 1981.
Syria has always demanded the full return of the territory in any peace deal.
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