Date:19/01/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/01/19/stories/2006011900950900.htm

National

Indian troops for Golan Heights

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: An Indian Army contingent will be posted on the Golan Heights for the first time. A group of 185 officers and troops will work with contingents from Canada, Japan, Slovakia, Austria and Poland as part of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF).

An Indian Army contingent is separately conducting peacekeeping operations under the U.N. flag at five hot spots on the nearby Israel-Lebanon border.

Led by Lt. Col. Ajay Singh, the troops are drawn from 17 Poona Horse, Corps of Engineers, Electronic & Mechanical Engineers, Signals, Medical, Army Service Corps, Military Police and the Army Postal Service. They will form part of the UNDOF logistics support organisation.

The UNDOF is deployed in an area of separation created by the U.N. between the Israeli and Syrian forces. The area, 80 km long and 1-10 km wide, has a large number of minefields. The UNDOF is commanded by Major Gen. Bala Nanada Sharma of Nepal.

The deployment of the UNDOF has its genesis in the 1973 war between Egypty and Israel in the Suez Canal area and the Sinai, and between the Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights.