3 Czech military officers participate in UNDOF mission in Israel

The Czech General Staff said Monday that three Czech military officers had left for Israel on Sunday to join the command of the United Nations mission in the Golan Heights (UNDOF).

The U.N. headquarters had requested the asked Czech officers to occupy the three positions in February.

The three officers will operate at the UNDOF temporary headquarters on the Israeli side as specialists for exercise, analyses and IT. They will be replaced by their Czech colleagues 12 months later.

Czech President Milos Zeman said that participation in the UNDOF mission was a way to fight Islamic terrorism. He said he was lobbying for Czech soldiers being deployed in the buffer zone between Syria and Israel, where international observers have been deployed since 1974.

According to the mandate approved by the Czech parliament, up to five Czech troops may operate within the UNDOF mission.