MOSCOW, August 2, 2018 (News Wires) - Russia will deploy military police on the Golan Heights frontier between Syria and Israel and set up eight observation posts, Interfax news agency reported on Thursday, citing the Russian Defence Ministry. "With the aim of preventing possible provocations against UN posts along the 'Bravo' line, the deployment is planned of eight observation posts of Russia's armed forces' military police," Sergei Rudskoi, a senior Defence Ministry official was quoted as saying by Interfax. Syrian forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and their Russian and Iranian allies have largely defeated anti-government rebels in south-west Syria, bringing pro-government forces closer to the frontier with Israel. The prospect that Iranian forces, and members of the Shi'ite Hizbollah militia, are in proximity with the border in the area of the Golan Heights has prompted warnings from Israel, which sees Iran as a threat to its national security. Iranian forces have withdrawn their heavy weapons in Syria to a distance of 85 km from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, TASS quoted a Russian envoy as saying on Wednesday, but Israel deemed the pullback inadequate. Rudskoi was also quoted as saying that a UN peacekeeping force on the Golan Heights between Israel and Syria that was stopped in 2012 could be resumed. UN peacekeepers accompanied by Russian military police patrolled the area for the first time in six years on Thursday, Rudskoi said.
