Coordinates: 33°7′N 35°52′E / 33.117°N 35.867°E
The United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) was established by United Nations Security Council Resolution 350 on 31 May 1974, to implement Resolution 338 (1973) which called for an immediate ceasefire and implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 242.
The resolution was passed on the same day the Agreement on Disengagement was signed between Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights, finally establishing a ceasefire to end the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
The Force has since performed its functions with the full cooperation of both sides. The mandate of UNDOF has been renewed every six months since 1974 (most recently until 30 August 2016). UNTSO (United Nations Truce Supervision Organization) and UNDOF are operating in the zone and continue to supervise the ceasefire. Before the Syrian Civil War, the situation in the Israel-Syria ceasefire line had remained quiet and there had been no serious incidents.
During the Syrian Civil War, the buffer zone between Israeli and Syrian forces became a scene of the Quneitra clashes, forcing many UN observer forces to reconsider their mission due to safety issues. The fighting between Syrian Army and Syrian Opposition came to international attention when on March 2013, Syrian rebels took hostage 21 Fijian UN personnel, who had been a part of the UN Disengagement Observer Force in the neutral buffer zone between Syria and Israeli-occupied territory. According to a UN official, they were taken hostage near Observation Post 58, which had sustained damage and was evacuated the previous weekend, following heavy combat in close proximity at Al Jamla. The UN personnel was later released with Jordanian mediation.