page_title: United Nations Disengagement Observer Force
section_title: UNDOF
hierarchical_section_title: United Nations Disengagement Observer Force / UNDOF
caption_attribution_description: English: UNDOF Base near Quneitra crossing
context_page_description: The United Nations Disengagement Observer Force was established by United Nations Security Council Resolution 350 on 31 May 1974, to implement Resolution 338 which called for an immediate ceasefire and implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 242.
  The resolution was passed on the same day the Agreement on Disengagement was signed between Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights, finally establishing a ceasefire to end the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
  The Force has since performed its functions with the full cooperation of both sides. The mandate of UNDOF has been renewed every six months since 1974. UNTSO and UNDOF are operating in the zone and continue to supervise the ceasefire. Before the Syrian Civil War, the situation in the Israel-Syria ceasefire line had remained quiet and there had been no serious incidents.
  During the Syrian Civil War, the buffer zone between Israeli and Syrian forces became a scene of the Quneitra clashes, forcing many UN observer forces to reconsider their mission due to safety issues.
context_section_description: The initial composition of UNDOF in 1974 was of personnel from Austria, Peru, Canada and Poland, and later contingents have come from Iran, Finland, Slovenia, Japan, Croatia, India and the Philippines.  As of January 2020, about a thousand troops are provided by Nepal, India, Uruguay, Fiji, Ireland, and Ghana. The troops are assisted by military observers from the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization's Observer Group Golan, along with international and local civilian staff.
  UNDOF is deployed within and close to the zone with two base camps, 44 permanently manned position and 11 observation posts. The operation headquarters are located at Camp Faouar and an office is maintained at Damascus. The Uruguayan battalion is deployed in the south with its base camp in Camp Ziouani. The Indian and Japanese logistic units perform second-line general transport tasks, rotation transport, control and management of goods received by the Force, and maintenance of heavy equipment. First-line logistic support is internal to the contingents and includes transport of supplies to the positions.
  As of 2017, there have been 58 fatalities, including one civilian staff, since 1974. On 9 August 1974, a Canadian Buffalo transport aircraft was on a routine re-supply flight, from Beirut to Damascus for Canadian peacekeepers in the Golan Heights. Flight 51 was carrying five crew members and four passengers: Capt G.G Foster, Capt K.B. Mirau, Capt R.B. Wicks, MWO G. Landry, A/MWO C.B. Korejwo, MCpl R.C Spencer, Cpl M.H.T. Kennington, Cpl M.W. Simpson and Cpl B.K. Stringer. All were members of the Canadian Forces. At 11:50, while on final approach into Damascus, the aircraft went down in the outskirts of the Syrian town of Ad Dimas, killing all on board. This remains the largest single-day loss of life in Canada's peace-keeping history.
  On 13 October 2017, Major General Francis Vib-Sanziri of Ghana was appointed as Head of Mission and Force Commander of UNDOF.  He succeeds Major General Jai Shanker Menon of India, whose assignment ended on 30 September 2017.
  UNDOF's budget is approved on an annual basis by the UN General Assembly.  Its budget for July 2017–June 2018 is US$57,653,700, representing less than 1% of the UN peacekeeping budget.
  In March 2013, 21 Philippine peacekeepers were held by a group of Syrian rebels who call themselves the Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade; they were then released, and returned to their base via Jordan and Israel on 12 March.
  On 10 May 2013, the Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Albert del Rosario announced his intentions to pull out their contingent of UN peacekeepers from the UNDOF zone. He suggested the risks in the area had gone "beyond tolerable limits". The announcement followed the kidnapping of four peacekeepers, shown on video to be kept as human shields by the Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade. The total Philippine contingent currently numbers 342, approximately one third of the entire unit. On 6 June 2013 the Austrian chancellor Werner Faymann and Austrian foreign minister Michael Spindelegger announced that Austria would withdraw its troops from the UNDOF mission. This decision was made after Syrian rebels had attacked and temporarily captured the border crossing at Quneitra. A Filipino peacekeeper was wounded in the fighting.
  Ireland deployed 115 peacekeepers with UNDOF in September 2013 and are based in Camp Faouar. The Irish peacekeepers were attacked by Syrian rebels on 29 November 2013. The Irish convoy came under small arms fire and was hit with an explosion before the rebels retreated.
  In August 2014 Syrian rebels captured Fijian peacekeepers and surrounded Filipinos manning two separate UN posts.
  All 72 Philippine troops trapped by Islamists escaped after engaging about 100 Islamist militants surrounding them in a seven-hour firefight. Irish UNDOF troops helped in the rescue. The 45 captured Fijian peacekeepers were released by al-Nusra Front rebels on 11 September 2014.
caption: The UNDOF base near the Quneitra Crossing.
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