UNITED NATIONS
The United Nations is preparing to withdraw its peacekeepers from the Syrian Golan Heights due to the ongoing intense armed fighting between Syrian government forces and rebels, the Secretary General press office announced on Monday.
According to the U.N. Secretary General press office, the ongoing civil war in Syria makes it difficult for U.N. peacekeepers to work in the field.
Indeed, more than 40 United Nations Disengagement Observer Force Zone (UNDOF) peacekeepers were captured by the Syrian militant movement of Al Nusra on August 28 in the Golan Heights. They were later released on September 11.
The U.N. camps and four of its bases in Syria will change locations but officials did not give further details.
There are currently 1,200 UN peacekeepers - from the Philippines, Fiji, India, Ireland, Nepal and the Netherlands - serving in the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force.
The force has been stationed in the Golan Heights' buffer zone since 1974 to monitor a cease-fire between Israel and Syria, which followed the 1967 six-day war.
Following the war, Israel annexed close to 1,200 square miles of the Heights, a decision the international community has never recognized.
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