On August 2, a unit of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) was redeployed in the al-Quneitra crossing between southern Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, according to Syrian pro-government sources.
Local sources said that the Russian Millitary Police escorted the UNDOF during the redeployment process. The sources added that the Damascus governorate and the U.N will work together to rehabilitate the crossing in order to reopen it as soon as possible.
Al-Quneitra crossing is the only gate between Syria territory and the Golan Heights. Prior to the war, thousands of Golan Heights residents entered Syria to study or work through the crossing every year.
On August 27 of 2014, the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and the al-Qaeda affiliated al-Nusra Front [now known as Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham] captured the crossing after a rapid attack against the SAA and the UNDOF.
The redeployment of the UNDOF in the al-Quneitra crossing is a part of the 1974 ceasefire agreement between Israel and Syria. In the recent months, several senior Israeli officials called for the reimplementation of the agreement, which collapsed as a result of the Syrian conflict.
