UNDOF's commander Lieutenant General Iqbal Singh Singha told the UNSC on October 9 that his troops were "under fire, been abducted, hijacked, had weapons snatched and offices vandalized." Australia was the latest among the troop contributing countries to pull out its forces from UNDOF.
UNDOF and the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) operate in the buffer zone of about 80 km long and between 0.5 to 10 km wide, forming an area of 235 km . The zone borders the Lebanon Blue Line to the north and forms a border of less than 1 km with Jordan to the south. It straddles the Purple Line which separates the Israeli -- occupied Golan Heights from Syria. The west Israeli side of this line is known as "Alpha", and the east Syrian side as "Bravo."
Speaking at the U.S. military base FortDix on Monday, President Obama warned those who "threaten America" that they "will have no safe haven," but that is exactly what Israel is providing them.
Israeli "interaction" has practically helped the UNDOF "to relocate" from Bravo to Alpha and to hand Bravo as a safe haven over to an al-Nusra Front -- led coalition of terrorist groups.
Al-Nusra Front is officially the al -- Qaeda affiliate in Syria. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told the Senate Committee on Foreign relations on this December 9 that his administration considers the IS to be a branch of al -- Qaeda operating under a different name. Both terrorist groups were one under the name of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and only recently separated. Whoever accommodates either one is in fact courting the other.
"The 1,200-strong UN force is now mostly huddled inside CampZiouani, a drab base just inside the Israeli - controlled side of the Golan Heights. Its patrols along the de facto border have all but ceased," the Associated Press (AP) reported on last September 18.
Israeli air force and artillery intervened several times to protect the al-Nusra Front's "safe haven" against fire power from Syria, which is still committed to its ceasefire agreement of 1974 with Israel. Last September for example, Israel shot down a Syrian fighter jet that was bombing the Front's positions, only three weeks after shooting down a Syrian drone over the area.
Israel is not violating the Syrian sovereignty only, but violating also the UN -- sponsored ceasefire agreement and the UNSC anti-terror resolutions. More important, Israel is in fact undermining the UNDOF mandate on the Israeli -- occupied Syrian Golan Heights.
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