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Russian Forces Join UN Peacekeepers on Golan Heights Frontier
(AP-Washington Post) Maria Danilova - UN peacekeepers returned on Thursday to patrol the frontier between Syria and Israel in the Golan Heights, Russia's Defense Ministry announced. For the first time, Russian forces joined the peacekeepers. Col. Gen. Sergei Rudskoy of the Russian General Staff said in Moscow that Russian military police accompanied the UN peacekeepers on patrol. He said Russia's military police would establish eight of its own monitoring posts at the edge of the UN disengagement zone at the frontier. On Thursday, Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said the Syrian side of the border had returned to its pre-2011 state. He said Israel will have "no cause to intervene or operate in Syrian territory" if Damascus respects a 1974 disengagement agreement between the two sides - and as long as Syria doesn't become a staging ground for Iranian forces to attack Israel or transfer arms to Hizbullah in Lebanon.