The UN Security Council extends the mandate of the peacekeeping force in the Syrian occupied Golan Heights for six months
The UN Security Council unanimously extended the mandate of the United Nations Interim Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights until December 31, 2025.
The decision was made during a session held at UN headquarters in New York, based on a joint draft resolution between the United States and Russia.
The resolution affirmed UNDOF’s continued role in maintaining complete neutrality in the performance of its mandate, stressing the need to halt any activities that could endanger the lives of peacekeepers, and the need to enable UN personnel to perform their duties in complete safety.
The resolution also called on all groups, with the exception of UNDOF, to withdraw from force positions, respect the immunities and privileges of the UN force, and ensure its freedom of movement and unhindered delivery of its equipment.
It’s noteworthy that the UNDOF force was established by a Security Council resolution in 1974, with the aim of monitoring the disengagement between Syria and Israel in the Golan Heights, which Israel has occupied since the 1967 war.
The force’s tasks include maintaining the ceasefire between the two sides, supervising the separation zones, which are demilitarized buffer zones, and monitoring border areas that restrict the movement of Israeli and Syrian forces and equipment in the area.
