UNITED NATIONS, October 10. /TASS/. Russia on Thursday urged the international community to use its influence on the Syrian militants in the Golan Heights to prevent a phase-down of the peacekeeping operation in the region.
Russian Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Pyotr Ilyichev said “the demand to stop aggressive manifestations” with regard to the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force personnel should be addressed not so much to the authorities of the two countries concerned as to “the armed militants whose actions are escalating tensions in the disengagement zone”.
“Those who have influence on them must use it actively to keep the situation from getting out of control and prevent the termination of the critically important peacekeeping mission,” he said.
The diplomat said the U.N. Disengagement Observer Force was “an important stabilising factor in the Golan Heights”.
On September 15, the U.N. announced that most of its peacekeepers would be relocated from the Syrian side of the Golan Heights to the Israeli-occupied territories (so-called Alpha Line), following the advance of Jabhat al-Nusra militants on the U.N. troops.
In late August, extremists took Fijian peacekeepers hostage and made an attempt to capture Philippine soldiers.