(Reuters) - U.N.
peacekeepers in the Golan Heights are pulling out from four positions
and a camp on the Syrian side of the Syrian-Israeli border due to a
severe deterioration of security in the region, the United Nations said
on Monday. The decision to pull
blue-helmeted observers back to the Israeli side of the Golan Heights
comes after recent clashes between members of the U.N. mission, known as
UNDOF, and al-Qaeda-linked militants. The skirmishes have been due to
increasing spillover from the three-year-old Syrian civil war. "The
situation in UNDOF on the Syrian side and the area of separation has
deteriorated severely over the last several days," U.N. spokesman
Stephane Dujarric told reporters. "Armed
groups have made advances in the area of UNDOF positions, posing a
direct threat to the safety and security of the U.N. peacekeepers along
the 'Bravo' (Syrian) line and in Camp Faouar," he said, adding that all
U.N. personnel in those positions have been moved to the Israeli side. According
to a diplomatic source, troops pulled back from four positions in the
northern part of the so-called area of separation. "UNDOF
continues to use all available assets to carry out its mandated tasks
in this exceptionally challenging environment," Dujarric said. UNDOF,
which was established in 1974, monitors a ceasefire line that has
separated Israelis from Syrians in the Golan Heights since a 1973 war. Separately,
a new U.N. report on UNDOF submitted to the Security Council, an
advance copy of which was obtained by Reuters, said the Syrian military
and various armed groups have increased their presence along the
ceasefire line in violation of the 1973 truce, forcing the mission to
abandon key positions. That was "significantly impacting the mission's ability to carry out its mandate," it added. There
was no suggestion that UNDOF was shutting down. Late last month, 45
Fijian peacekeepers were kidnapped by members of the al Qaeda-affiliated
Nusra Front, Islamist militants fighting the Syrian army. They were
released last week. At the time the Fijians were abducted, 72 UNDOF
Filipino peacekeepers were trapped by the militants, though they
succeeded in escaping. Syria
and Israel technically remain at war. Syrian troops are not allowed in
the area of separation, a narrow strip of land running about 45 miles
(70 km) from Mount Hermon on the Lebanese border to the Yarmouk River
frontier with Jordan. UNDOF monitors the area of separation, with about 1,220 peacekeepers from six countries. Before
the Syrian civil war, now in its fourth year, the region was generally
quiet and the peacekeepers had mostly found their biggest enemy to be
boredom. The force's personnel come from Fiji, India, Ireland, Nepal, Netherlands and the Philippines. The United Nations
said last month that the Philippines has decided to pull out of UNDOF
and from a U.N. force in Liberia, which is struggling with an outbreak
of the deadly Ebola virus hitting several West African countries.
U.N. Golan peacekeepers pull back from Syrian positions amid clashes

Reuters
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