Tag: golan heights
Danziger: Another Border Fiasco

Danziger: Another Border Fiasco

Jeff Danziger lives in New York City. He is represented by CWS Syndicate and the Washington Post Writers Group. He is the recipient of the Herblock Prize and the Thomas Nast (Landau) Prize. He served in the US Army in Vietnam and was awarded the Bronze Star and the Air Medal. He has published eleven books of cartoons and one novel. Visit him at DanzigerCartoons.com.

Nusra Front Sets Demands For Releasing U.N. Peacekeepers

Nusra Front Sets Demands For Releasing U.N. Peacekeepers

By Joel Greenberg, McClatchy Washington Bureau

JERUSALEM — The al-Qaida-linked rebels who captured dozens of Fijian United Nations peacekeepers on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights last week have set demands for their release, including removal of the Islamist group from a U.N. terrorist list and compensation for the deaths of its comrades in fighting with members of the international force, the commander of the Fijian army said Tuesday.

Militants from the Nusra Front seized the 45 Fijian peacekeepers last Thursday in a buffer zone where more than 1,200 U.N. observers are stationed between Israeli and Syrian lines.

Fighters from the Islamist group also surrounded and attacked two positions of Filipino peacekeepers, some of whom were extricated by U.N. forces while others escaped.

Fighting in the buffer zone has intensified between Syrian forces and anti-government rebels, including members of the Nusra Front. Last week the rebels seized the Quneitra crossing to the Israeli-held sector of the Golan Heights, a strategic plateau mostly captured by the Israelis in the 1967 Six-Day War.

Speaking in the Fijian capital of Suva, the army commander, Brig. Gen. Mosese Tikoitoga, said the Nusra Front had made three demands for the release of the peacekeepers: removal from the U.N. list of terrorist groups, delivery of humanitarian aid to Ruta, a suburb of Damascus that’s a stronghold of the group, and payment for the killings of three of its combatants in exchanges of fire with U.N. peacekeepers.

The Nusra Front also accused the U.N. of failing to help Syrians under attack by government forces during the country’s civil war, and it alleged that the peacekeeping force was assisting the Syrian army in its movements through the buffer zone.

“Negotiations have moved up to another level with the professional negotiators now in place,” Tikoitoga said, referring to hostage negotiators the U.N. sent to Syria. “The rebels are not telling us where the troops are, but they continue to reassure us they are being well looked after. They also told us they are ensuring that they are taken out of battle areas.”

“We’ve been assured by U.N. headquarters that the U.N. will bring all its resources to bear to ensure the safe return of our soldiers,” the general said.

Greenberg is a McClatchy special correspondent.

AFP Photo

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U.N. Says 43 Peacekeepers Detained Near Israel-Syria Border

U.N. Says 43 Peacekeepers Detained Near Israel-Syria Border

By Christine Mai-Duc, Los Angeles Times

The United Nations says 43 of its peacekeepers were detained Thursday in the Golan Heights near the border of Syria and Israel, a day after Syrian rebels overtook a crossing into Israeli-annexed territory.

The world body said in a statement that peacekeepers with the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force were taken after a period of increased conflict that started Wednesday between “armed elements” and the Syrian army.

The troops were detained by “an armed group” on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights near Al Qunaytirah, the statement said. Another 81 peacekeepers were being restricted to their positions in the areas of Ar Ruwayhinah and Burayqah.

“The United Nations is making every effort to secure the release of the detained peacekeepers, and to restore the full freedom of movement of the force throughout its area of operation,” the statement said.

U.N. troops have monitored the buffer zone between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights since 1974. As of July 31, 1,223 peacekeepers from six countries are in the region monitoring the situation.

This is not the first time U.N. troops have been detained in the region. In May 2013, four peacekeepers were held by Syrian opposition forces. They were released five days later.

AFP Photo/Jack Guez

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Israel Strikes 9 Military Targets In Syria

Israel Strikes 9 Military Targets In Syria

By Batsheva Sobelman and Patrick Mcdonnell, Los Angeles Times

JERUSALEM — Israeli warplanes and missiles struck nine Syrian military positions early Monday in retaliation for an earlier cross-border attack that killed a 14-year-old boy and wounded three other civilians in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, according to the Israel Defense Forces and news agency reports.

The Israeli bombardment hit Syrian military command centers and launching positions, according to a statement from the Israel Defense Forces and news agency accounts. The attack involved both Tamuz-guided missiles and military jets, according to Israeli press reports.

“Direct hits were confirmed,” the Israeli military said in its statement.

There was no immediate word on casualties from the post-midnight strikes inside Syria and the extent of damage inflicted.

But the attacks appeared to be among the most extensive that Israel has launched to date on Syrian territory since the Syrian conflict broke out more than three years ago.

The incident also raised the prospect of a more robust Israeli involvement in the raging Syrian conflict, a proxy war in which rebels supported by the United States and its allies are fighting to oust the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Assad’s government is backed by Iran, Israel’s regional rival. The armed Syrian opposition has repeatedly denied Syrian government allegations that Israel has provided direct assistance to rebels fighting to oust Assad.

Israel is reported to have launched at least half a dozen airstrikes in the last 18 months against military targets inside Syria. Israeli officials have generally not publicly confirmed the previous attacks, which have been confirmed by U.S. and Syrian officials.

But on Monday, Israel acknowledged the retaliatory strikes. The official statement said the action was in response to the cross-border incident Sunday that killed the 14-year-old boy and wounded three others, including the boy’s father, in the Golan Heights. Israeli authorities initially described the earlier attack as an “explosion,” possibly from mortar fire or a planted bomb.

“Yesterday’s attack was an unprovoked act of aggression against Israel, and a direct continuation to recent attacks that occurred in the area,” said Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, an Israeli military spokesman, in a statement. “The IDF will not tolerate any attempt to breach Israel’s sovereignty and will act in order to safeguard the civilians of the state of Israel.”

Earlier, Israel had said that the Golan Heights attack “targeted an Israeli civilian vehicle.” News agency reports indicated that an anti-tank projectile fired from within Syria struck near the border fence. The teenage victim was sitting in a truck with his father, who was doing maintenance work on the fence for the Israeli Defense Ministry along with two other contract workers, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.

The incident was “not a case of errant fire, but of an intentional attack,” the Israeli military said in its statement.

Shells from the Syrian conflict have occasionally landed in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. But Sunday’s incident was reportedly the first time that someone had been killed on the Israeli side of the disputed frontier.

It was never publicly clarified whether the Syrian military or anti-government rebels were behind the explosion that killed the teenager. Both the Syrian army and insurgents are active on the Syrian side.

In an initial response, Israeli tanks fired Sunday at Syrian government targets inside Syria, news agencies reported. Those shelling attacks were followed early Monday by the Israeli strikes on nine Syrian military targets.

There was no immediate reaction from Syrian authorities.

Israel seized the Golan Heights, a strategic plateau, from Syria during the 1967 war.

The frontier zone, patrolled by United Nations peacekeepers, was relatively calm for decades until the Syrian conflict broke out and anti-government rebels, including some linked to al-Qaida, began battling Syrian government forces in the zone. Syrian rebels have on several occasions kidnapped U.N. peacekeepers in the area, but all U.N. personnel have been later released safely.

Special correspondent Sobelman reported from Jerusalem and staff writer McDonnell from Beirut.

AFP Photo/Jim Lopez

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