Security Council Extends Mandate of United Nations Observer Force in Golan for Six Months, Unanimously Adopting Resolution 2737 (2024)

The Security Council today extended the mandate of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) in the Golan for six months until 31 December and requested the Secretary-General to ensure that the Force has the required capacity and resources to fulfil its mandate “in a safe and secure way”.

Unanimously adopting resolution 2737 (2024) (to be issued as document S/RES/2737(2024)), the 15-member organ also stressed that Israel and Syria are obliged to “scrupulously and fully respect” the terms of the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement.

By other terms, it called on them to exercise maximum restraint and prevent any breaches of the ceasefire and the area of separation.  It also encouraged them to take full advantage of UNDOF’s liaison function regularly to address issues of mutual concern.

The Council also called all groups other than the Force to abandon all UNDOF positions and return the peacekeepers’ vehicles, weapons and other equipment.  Further, it called on all parties to cooperate fully with UNDOF operations to ensure the Force’s freedom of movement, the security of the UN personnel carrying out their mandate, and unhindered and immediate access for them.

The Council then requested the Secretary-General to report every 90 days on the situation’s developments and the measures taken to implement resolution 338 (1973).

UNDOF was established immediately following the 1974 disengagement agreement with a mandate to maintain the ceasefire and supervise the area of separation — a demilitarized buffer zone — as well as the area of limitation — where Israeli and Syrian troops and equipment are restricted — in the Golan.  It has since been reauthorized every six months, being last renewed on 21 December 2023.  (See Press Release SC/15542.)