TAL KROUM, Syria: The Russian military said Tuesday that its forces in Syria will help UN peacekeepers fully restore patrols along the frontier with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, reflecting Moscow’s deepening role in mediating between the decades-old foes.
The Russian deployment in the area has also highlighted Moscow’s growing clout in the region, where it seeks to balance the sharply conflicting interests of Israel and Iran.
“The Russian flag is the guarantor of peace and security on that land,” said Lt. Gen. Sergei Kuralenko, speaking to international reporters on a trip to the area organized by the Russian Defense Ministry. He noted that Russian and Israeli officials have maintained regular communications, adding that “operations by Russian military police help ensure the security of Israel.”
Russia has been President Bashar Assad’s number one backer against rebels seeking to oust him. Moscow’s military intervention in Syria has turned the tide of the war in his favor, helping his forces recapture key areas from the opposition. Russian military police have been deploying in all areas recaptured from rebels, including on the edge of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, after Syrian government forces regained control of the area last month.
Kuralenko said that the Russian military police have set up four checkpoints on the edge of the demilitarized zone and plan to add another four.
“The Russian military police work in close interaction with the UN,” he said, adding that they have set up a hotline with the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) and held regular meetings to coordinate their actions.
He noted that a top priority for the Russian military police is to help clear mines left by militants. He said Russian forces have inspected the demilitarized zone and adjacent areas to help UNDOF map safe routes.
“We are offering all possible assistance to the UN mission to allow it to resume its operations in the demilitarized zone in full,” Kuralenko said, adding that the Russian military police will be ready to leave once the UN mission fully takes charge.
The UN peacekeepers first deployed in the area in 1974 under a deal to separate Syrian and Israeli forces after Israel occupied the Golan Heights in the 1967 war, but they were driven away by Al-Qaeda-linked militants in 2014.
Kuralenko said most UN facilities in the area were heavily damaged during fierce fighting between Al-Qaeda and Syrian government forces.
“The main problem is a large number of explosive objects left,” he said. “We see our mission not only in clearing mines, but also in training local personnel. We are helping train Syrian military engineers so that they can do the job themselves.”
By deploying its forces along the Syrian-Israeli frontier, Moscow has sought to assuage Israeli concerns about the Iranian presence in Syria.
Israel has repeatedly said it will not allow Iran, or its proxy Hezbollah militia, to establish a permanent presence in postwar Syria. Moscow, which has played a delicate diplomatic game of maintaining friendly ties with both Israel and Iran, warned that it would be unrealistic to expect Iran to fully withdraw from Syria.
But in a bid to accommodate Israel’s security interests, Moscow announced two weeks ago that it struck a deal with Tehran to keep its fighters 85 kilometers (53 miles) from the Golan.
While Russia and Iran have teamed up in Syria to shore up Assad’s government, their interests don’t always converge.
Iran is loath to surrender any of its hard-won gains in Syria, but it can’t afford a falling out with Moscow amid the continuing tensions with the US and Saudi Arabia. Washington’s withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear deal has made ties with Russia even more important for Tehran.
Russia to help restore UN patrols near Syria-Israel frontier
Russia to help restore UN patrols near Syria-Israel frontier
The UN says Al-Hol camp population has dropped sharply as Syria moves to relocate remaining families
The UN says Al-Hol camp population has dropped sharply as Syria moves to relocate remaining families
- Forces of Syria’s central government captured the Al-Hol camp on Jan. 21 during a weekslong offensive against the SDF, which had been running the camp near the border with Iraq for a decade
DAMASCUS: The UN refugee agency said Sunday that a large number of residents of a camp housing family members of suspected Daesh group militants have left and the Syrian government plans to relocate those who remain.
Gonzalo Vargas Llosa, UNHCR’s representative in Syria, said in a statement that the agency “has observed a significant decrease in the number of residents in Al-Hol camp in recent weeks.”
“Syrian authorities have informed UNHCR of their plan to relocate the remaining families to Akhtarin camp in Aleppo Governorate (province) and have requested UNHCR’s support to assist the population in the new camp, which we stand ready to provide,” he said.
He added that UNHCR “will continue to support the return and reintegration of Syrians who have departed Al-Hol, as well as those who remain.”
The statement did not say how residents had left the camp or how many remain. Many families are believed to have escaped either during the chaos when government forces captured the camp from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces last month or afterward.
There was no immediate statement from the Syrian government and a government spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
At its peak after the defeat of IS in Syria in 2019, around 73,000 people were living at Al-Hol. Since then, the number has declined with some countries repatriating their citizens. The camp’s residents are mostly children and women, including many wives or widows of IS members.
The camp’s residents are not technically prisoners and most have not been accused of crimes, but they have been held in de facto detention at the heavily guarded facility.
Forces of Syria’s central government captured the Al-Hol camp on Jan. 21 during a weekslong offensive against the SDF, which had been running the camp near the border with Iraq for a decade. A ceasefire deal has since ended the fighting.
Separately, thousands of accused IS militants who were held in detention centers in northeastern Syria have been transferred to Iraq to stand trial under an agreement with the US
The US military said Friday that it had completed the transfer of more than 5,700 adult male IS suspects from detention facilities in Syria to Iraqi custody.
Iraq’s National Center for International Judicial Cooperation said a total of 5,704 suspects from 61 countries who were affiliated with IS — most of them Syrian and Iraqi — were transferred from prisons in Syria. They are now being interrogated in Iraq.
