U.N. Moves Peacekeepers in Golan Over Safety Fears

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/16/world/middleeast/un-moves-peacekeepers-in-golan-over-safety-fears.html

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Concerned about another attack or mass abduction targeting its Golan Heights peacekeepers, the United Nations said Monday that it had withdrawn many of them to the Israeli-controlled side of the peacekeepers’ buffer zone after unidentified armed groups from Syria moved menacingly close to their positions on the Syrian side.

A statement from Secretary General Ban Ki-moon reporting the withdrawal of the peacekeepers, members of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force, or Undof, came a few days after the Nusra Front, a Syrian insurgent group affiliated with Al Qaeda, released a 45-soldier Fijian contingent it had held captive for two weeks.

Although the Nusra Front dropped its demands for a prisoner exchange and humanitarian aid, releasing the Fijians unharmed, their seizure reflected the growing dangers to international organizations operating in the region. While they were in captivity, at least two bases occupied by fellow peacekeepers in the so-called area of separation, the buffer zone between the Syrian and Israeli sides, came under attack by Syrian militants.

“The situation in Undof on the Syrian side and the area of separation has deteriorated severely over the last several days,” Mr. Ban said in the statement, which was posted on the United Nations website. It added that armed groups had posed a “direct threat” to the safety and security of Undof forces stationed along the so-called Bravo line in Syria. The statement did not specify the number of peacekeepers affected but said they had been moved to the so-called Alpha line bordering the Israeli-occupied Golan.

“Undof continues to use all available assets to carry out its mandated tasks in this exceptionally challenging environment,” the statement said, although it was unclear how the peacekeepers could patrol their assigned areas if they were not there.

The force is now composed of 1,250 soldiers contributed by Fiji, the Philippines, India, Nepal, Ireland and the Netherlands, and has been patrolling an area of separation between Syria and the Israel-occupied Golan since 1974. Up until the outbreak of the Syrian civil war nearly three years ago, the area was peaceful.