By Mustafa Caglayan
NEW YORK
A UN peacekeeping mission stationed in the Golan Heights along the Syrian-Israeli border observed two drones approaching from the Israeli side on Sunday, crossing a cease-fire line, a UN spokesperson confirmed Monday.
"This incident is in violation of the 1974 agreement on disengagement between Israeli and Syrian forces," said Farhan Haq, a deputy UN spokesperson.
Shiite Lebanese movement Hezbollah said six of its members were killed Sunday in southwestern Syria when they were attacked by an Israeli military helicopter.
An hour after seeing the drones, the UN mission observed smoke coming from the general direction of the UN position near the Jabata al Khashab crossing, said Haq, adding that the origin of the smoke could not be identified.
"Subsequently the [UN Disengagement Observer Force] observed unmanned aerial vehicles flying from the general area of the Position 30 and over the Jabata crossing, the cease-fire line," he said.
Position 30 is an area near the Jabata al Khashab crossing between Syria and the demilitarized zone of the Golan Heights.
The force, known by the initials UNDOF, has been stationed in the Golan Heights, a jagged plateau in southwestern Syria, since 1974 to monitor a disengagement accord between Syria and Israel, which followed the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
Israel occupied approximately two thirds of the Heights during the initial fighting before annexing it in 1981 -- a move never recognized by international community.
