File photo: Peacekeeping troops from the unarmed United Nations Truce Supervision Organisation (UNTSO) look over the border line between Israel and Syria at a refugee tents erected at its Syrian side and seen from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights
Accompanied by the Russian military police, UN peacekeeping forces patrolled Thursday the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights for the first time since 2014, Russian General Staff spokesman Sergey Rudskoy announced.
"Control at the Syrian-Jordan border is totally restored. The conditions for the reestablishing the activities of the UN peacekeeping forces, deployed in the disengagement zone between Syria and Israel on the Golan Heights in accordance with the UN Security Council Resolution 350, are in place," Rudskoy said.
Israeli warplanes struck “militant” positions on the Syrian side of the ceasefire line that runs through the Golan Heights, Israeli media reported Thursday. According to the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation, seven “militants” were killed by the airstrike.Israel marks launch of Jewish center in JerusalemThe broadcaster did not provide any further details. In a statement, the Israeli army appeared to confirm the strikes, saying its aircraft had fired on a concentration of “terrorist operatives” on the Syrian side of the ceasefire line.Israeli PM warns Iran over attempt to close key straitWhile searching the area on Thursday morning, Israeli troops found explosive belts and an AK-47 assault rifle, according to the army statement.Shells fired from Syrian territory occasionally land in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, prompting “retaliatory” strikes by Israeli warplanes. Israel has occupied most of the Syrian Golan Heights since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War.
Israeli strikes kill seven ‘militants’ inside Syria's Golan
He also added that Russian military had set up eight surveillance posts along the UN patrolling route "to avoid any provocations".
He said Syrian regime forces will resume control of those posts in the future.
Russia will deploy its military police on the Golan Heights frontier between Syria and Israel, its defence ministry said on Thursday, after weeks of mounting volatility in the area.Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s sweeping away of the opposition in southwestern Syria has worried Israel, which believes it could allow his Iranian backers to entrench their troops close to the frontier.Underlining the tensions, Israel killed seven in an overnight air strike on the Syrian-held part of the Golan Heights, Israeli radio said on Thursday.Sergei Rudskoi, a senior Russian defence ministry official, said that Russian military police had on Thursday begun patrolling in the Golan Heights and planned to set up eight observation posts in the area.'Largest military entity' against Assad regime formedHe said the Russian presence there was in support of United Nations peacekeepers on the Golan Heights who, he said, had suspended their activities in the area in 2012 because their safety was endangered."Today, UN peacekeepers accompanied by Russian military police conducted their first patrols in six years in the separation zone," Rudskoi told a briefing for journalists in Moscow."With the aim of preventing possible provocations against UN posts along the 'Bravo' line, the deployment is planned of eight observation posts of Russia's armed forces' military police," Rudskoi said.He said the Russian presence there was temporary, and that the observation posts would be handed over to Syrian government forces once the situation stabilised.Turkey, US conduct 23rd round of patrols in ManbijThe deployment of the Russian military police highlights the degree to which the Kremlin has become an influential actor in Middle East conflicts since its military intervention in Syria which turned the tide of the war in Assad's favour.Israel has been lobbying the Kremlin to use its influence with Assad, and with Tehran, to try to get the Iranian military presence in Syria scaled back.Israel sees Iran, and Iran's allies in the Hezbollah Shi'ite military, as a direct threat to its national security.That message was conveyed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Russian President Vladimir Putin when they met in Moscow last month, a senior Israeli official said.Iranian forces have withdrawn their heavy weapons in Syria to a distance of 85 km (53 miles) from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, TASS quoted a Russian envoy as saying on Wednesday, but Israel deemed the pullback inadequate.Assad regime tortured 8,000 to death
Russia to deploy military police on Golan Heights between Syria, Israel
Al-Qaeda terrorists kidnapped 45 UN peacekeepers in the area to release them after two weeks. The incident prompted UN to withdraw from the zone shortly after.
Israel has occupied most of the Syrian Golan Heights since the 1967 Middle East War.