The UN Security Council on Friday authorized a UN observer force to stay
another six months in the Golan Heights, where it has served as a buffer between the Syrian and Israeli armies for 32 years.

The UN Disengagement Observer Force, known as UNDOF, was created in May 1974 to monitor a cease-fire and troop disengagement agreement that followed the Yom Kippur war.

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A resolution adopted unanimously by the 15-nation council extended the mandate of the 1,048 UN observers through June 30, 2007

Had the council failed to take action, the mandate would have expired at
the end of this month.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in his final report on the Middle East before stepping down on Dec. 31, told the Security Council there could be no comprehensive Middle East peace until Israel returned the Golan Heights to Syria.

Without a comprehensive peace deal, the region was likely
to remain tense, he said.