Syrian Arab News Agency S A N A
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United Nations, SANA – The UN Security Council demanded that all armed groups which launched attacks recently on UN peacekeepers serving with the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), monitoring a disengagement accord established in 1974 between Syria and the Israeli enemy which occupies the Syrian Golan.
In agreed statement issued on Wednesday, the Security Council demanded “all groups other than UNDOF must abandon all UNDOF positions and the Quneitra crossing point, and return the peacekeepers’ vehicles, weapons, and other equipment.”
43 Fijian UN personnel were kidnapped by what the UN described as “armed elements” on August 28, who are still detained since then. The so-called Jabhat al-Nusra, which is designated as a terrorist organization by the Security Council claimed responsibility for the abduction. Clashed also broke out between Filipino troops and the terrorist groups.
The UN state members reiterated their call for the “immediate and unconditional release” of the kidnapped UN peacekeepers.
The Council insisted that UNDOF’s mandate, impartiality, operations, safety, and security must be respected.
Its members also called upon “countries with influence to strongly convey to those responsible to immediately release the peacekeepers,” Ambassador Samantha Power of the United States said.
A source at the Foreign and Expatriates Ministry held the terrorist organizations and the sides backing them fully responsible for the safety of the kidnapped troops and demanded their immediate release.
As of July 31, there are 1,223 UN peacekeepers from six countries – Fiji, India, Ireland, Nepal, Netherlands, and the Philippines – serving in the UNDOF. The UN force’s mandate has been recently renewed until the 13th of next December.
Haifa Said
