The United Nations Disengagement Observer Force - UNDOF
The UNDOF mission was established by the UN Security Council Resolution 350 dated 31st May 1974 to maintain ceasefire between Israel and Syria, supervise the disengagement of Israeli and Syrian forces and supervise the areas of separation and limitation as provided in the Agreement on Disengagement from May 1974. The mandate of the mission is regularly renewed every six months.
With regard to the tense security situation in Syria, which has also affected the territory of the Golan Heights, the UNDOF mission could only implement its mandate in part – on the Israeli territory. That is approximately one third of the original zone of separation. However, regarding the improving security situation in the region and the infrastructure being restored, progressive steps are taken to implementing the mandate on the Syrian territory as well.
Furthermore, individual observation posts are progressively renovated and already manned by permanent military garrisons formed of servicemembers of the contributing countries. The Mission Command was relocated in the first half of 2018 back to Camp Faouar located on the Syrian side of the zone of separation.
The UN officially requested the Czech Republic to fill three positions in the UNDOF command structure in February 2015 and following a proposal of the Czech Ministry of Defence a mandate was adopted to assign Czech Armed Forces service personnel to the mission. The first group of the Czech military observers began to perform their operational assignment in the area of deployment at 5th July 2015. The current mandate for the Czech Armed Forces service personnel in the UNDOF mission in the Golan Heights was authorised for 2018-2020 at up to 10 observers.
The fifth group of four Czech soldiers assumed their duties in August 2019. The Czech Armed Forces specialists serve at the Mission Command in Camp Faouar in the Syrian part, and in Camp Ziouani at the Israeli part of the separation territory. In the staff, they hold posts of officers for training, planning and information technology. Since December 2018, a fourth officer serving as an operation centre officer was added to the group. Their rotation is planned after 12 months. The commander of the group is Lieutenant Colonel Pavel Hanus.
Read more about the UNDOF mission:
January 17, 2020