JERUSALEM (JTA) — Irish and Nepalese troops are joining the Golan Heights peacekeeping force.
Ireland is set to send 114 peacekeepers to serve as part of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force stationed on the Golan Heights. Nepal agreed to transfer troops from the U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon to the Golan Heights.
Last month, 380 Austrian troops left the region over fears that fighting between government and rebel forces in Syria’s 2 1/2-year civil war put them in danger. Croatia withdrew from the peacekeeping force earlier in the year over similar concerns.
The new forces, which join troops from the Philippines, India and Fiji, bring the number of Golan peacekeepers above 1,000, its authorized strength.
The peacekeepers have been stationed on the Golan since 1974 in the wake of a cease-fire agreement following the Yom Kippur War of the previous year.
