17 Jun 2013

Fiji peacekeepers at Golan Heights by end of June

1:38 pm on 17 June 2013

The United Nations says Fiji peacekeepers are expected to be in the Golan Heights by the end of the month.

The Fiji Times reports the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations has confirmed about 170 personnel would join the UN mission in the Israeli-occupied territory along the border with Syria.

The Fiji contingent will replace troops from Croatia, Japan and Austria who have pulled out due to fighting spilling over from the Syrian conflict.

A military advisor with the UN has told the paper Fiji offered to contribute to the UN Disengagement Observer Force.

Fiji will join some 340 troops from the Philippines and nearly 200 from India.

The peacekeeping mission has been caught in the middle of fighting in the Golan Heights area of separation, which has been largely quiet since a UN-monitored ceasefire between Israel and Syria was formalised in 1974.