UN peacekeepers return to Syrian side of Golan

A first group of 127 UN peacekeepers has returned to a camp on the Syrian-held side of the Golan Heights, two years after withdrawing amid clashes with Al-Qaeda-linked Syrian rebels.

UN spokesman Farhan Haq on Monday said more troops from the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) would return to camp Faouar this week and that both governments in Israel and Syria supported the move.

“The total number of troops, deployed to Camp Faouar this morning, is 127 and more are expected to join in a week,” said Haq. 

“For now... they will perform as many of the mandated tasks as they can, security conditions permitting,” he added.

The UNDOF monitors a 1974 ceasefire between Israel and Syria on the Golan Heights.

Hundreds of UN troops withdrew from the Syrian-held side of the Golan to the Israeli-occupied sector in September 2014, after Al-Qaeda-linked rebels kidnapped dozens of peacekeepers.

In late August 2014, rebels on the Syrian side, including Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front, kidnapped over 40 Fijian UNDOF troops and released them two weeks later.

The fighters also clashed with 75 Filipino members of the force, who eventually fled a nearby outpost in a worrying sign of spillover from Syria’s war.