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WORLD NEWS Friday 3 august 2018

Russia: UN peacekeepers back on Golan Heights-Syria frontier

By SARAH EL DEEB Syrian civil war, finally push-
MARIA DANILOVA ing the U.N. peacekeeping
Associated Press force out in 2014 after al-
BEIRUT (AP) — U.N. peace- Qaida militants kidnapped
keepers returned Thursday 45 U.N. peacekeepers.
for the first time in years to They were released two
the frontier between Syria weeks later.
and the Israeli-occupied The area had become par-
Golan Heights, conducting ticularly volatile in recent
joint patrols with Russian mil- weeks amid a Syrian gov-
itary police in a reflection ernment offensive to retake
of Moscow's deepening territories controlled by the
role in mediating between opposition adjacent to
the decades-old foes in the the frontier. Israel has also
volatile region. upped its strikes against
Israel has increasingly suspected Iranian targets
sought Russia's involve- inside Syria.
ment in securing its frontier A day before the joint
with Syria and in scaling Russia-U.N. patrols, Russia
back Iran's influence in the announced it reached an
area. Moscow, Damas- agreement with Israel to
cus's weightiest ally, has in keep pro-Iranian fighters 85
turn sought coordination Col.-Gen. Sergei Rudskoy of the Russian Military General Staff speaks to the media as a screen kilometers (53 miles) from
with Israel as a bridge with shows the map of Israel, Jordan, Syria and Li bacon including Israeli-occupied Golan Heights in the volatile frontier.q
Washington in dealing with Syria in Moscow, Russia.
Syria's complex war. Associated Press
Israel considers Iran's grow-
ing influence in Syria — it Rudskoy said Russian mili- state after Syrian govern-
has advisers and allied mi- tary police have accom- ment forces, supported by
litias fighting alongside Syr- panied the peacekeep- Russia's military, regained
ian troops— as an existen- ers on patrols, adding that control of the region from
tial threat and had looked eight Russian-manned ob- armed opposition that con-
for guarantees from Mos- servation points opposite trolled since 2014.
cow to push pro-Iran fight- the U.N. points will be set up Lieberman said Israel will
ers away from its frontiers. "to rule out possible provo- have "no cause to inter-
Col. Gen. Sergei Rudskoy cations." vene or operate in Syrian
of the Russian General Staff When the situation stabi- territory" if Damascus re-
said conditions have been lizes, Rudskoy said, the Rus- spects the 1974 disengage-
created for the resumption sian-manned posts would ment agreement between
of U.N. peacekeeping pa- be handed over to Syrian the two sides — and as long
trols along the area sepa- government forces. as Syria doesn't become a
rating Syria and Israel. The Israel acknowledged a re- staging ground for Iranian
U.N. peacekeeping forces turn to normalcy along the forces to attack Israel or
first deployed along the frontier. transfer arms to Hezbollah
frontier in 1974 following an Israeli Defense Minister in Lebanon.
agreement to separate Syr- Avigdor Lieberman said The area, peaceful for de-
ian and Israeli forces after the situation on the Syrian cades since the agree-
Israel occupied the Golan side of the boundary had ment, became a fighting
Heights in the 1967 war. returned to its pre-2011 ground at the height of the