Cease-fire on the Golan jeopardized by fighting

The separation of forces agreement between Israel and Syria may unravel as a result of the continued violence in Syria, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon warned on Wednesday. The U.N. said Thursday that at least 93,000 people had been confirmed killed in the Syrian conflict so far, but that the real number was likely far higher.

Ban’s comments come a week after Syrian rebels and regime loyalists held some of the most intense clashes in the Golan Heights area, battling over a contested crossing point. On Wednesday Austria began pulling out its peacekeepers from the Golan Heights, where they had been deployed as observers along with other contingents. A total of 377 Austrian troops had been originally deployed in the Golan Heights as part of the U.N. Disengagement Observer Force, and as many as 20 had already left through the Quneitra Crossing as of Wednesday. Japan and Croatia have also withdrawn their forces in recent months. The U.N. force will now comprise 341 troops from the Philippines and 193 from India.

In his report to the U.N. Security Council Wednesday, Ban said the U.N. contingent in the Golan Heights should be bolstered, „including [by] increasing the force strength to about 1,250 and improving its self-defense equipment.”

„The ongoing military activities in the area of separation continue to have the potential to escalate tensions between Israel and the Syrian Arab Republic and to jeopardize the cease-fire between the two countries,” Ban said.

The 15-member Security Council is due later this month to renew the mandate of UNDOF for six months. About 170 Fijian troops are due to deploy later this month to replace the Croatian troops, the United Nations has said.

India is also a part of UNDOF with nearly 200 troops.

The peacekeeping mission has been increasingly caught in the middle of fighting in the Golan Heights area of separation, which had been largely quiet since the 1973 Yom Kippur War and the subsequent separation of forces agreement that was signed in 1974. Stray shells and bullets have hit the Israeli-controlled side and Israeli troops have fired shells into Syria in response.

„The presence of the [Syrian army] and unauthorized military equipment in the area of separation is a grave violation of the 1974 Agreement of Disengagement between Israeli and Syrian forces,” Ban said in the report. „[Israeli] retaliatory fire across the cease-fire line is also a serious violation.”

The ongoing clashes near the Syria-Lebanon border reached another milestone on Wednesday when the Syrian air force targeted sites on Lebanese soil. According to the Lebanese media, a Syrian helicopter fired missiles on rebel strongholds in the border town of Arsal. The rebels apparently reached the city as a result of Assad’s successful campaign to recapture nearby Qusair. Over in the eastern Syrian town of Hatala, Syrian rebels, including Sunni extremists battled pro-regime militiamen, killing more than 60 Shiite fighters and civilians in an attack steeped in the sectarian hatreds that increasingly characterize the civil war, activists said Wednesday.

However, attention is now focused on the fate of Aleppo with members of the Syrian military, Hezbollah, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and other Shiites from Iraq surrounding the city ahead of a massive assault. The siege is designed to cut off supply lines that originate in Turkey and lay the groundwork for the all-out invasion.

According to top Lebanese officials quoted by the London-based Arabic-language paper Al-Hayat, Lebanese President Michel Suleiman has asked Iran to rein in Hezbollah and order it to stand down its weapons in Syria.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is visiting Poland, also criticized Hezbollah on Wednesday.

„If Hezbollah is not a terrorist organization, then I don’t know what is. Hezbollah is not just a threat on Israel, it operates in multiple continents: Africa, Asia, and here in Europe and wants to hurt Israelis here and in the U.S.,” Netanyahu said.

In two weeks time, the European Union will once again take up the issue of designating Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. Israeli officials have been exerting heavy pressure on member states to throw their support behind such a resolution.