Canada pulls out of Golan Heights after 30 years
Updated Fri. Mar. 24 2006 8:13 AM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
After maintaining a presence for more than 30 years, the Canadian military handed over its responsibilities in the Golan Heights to India today.
The region has been relatively stable in recent years, and the commanders say the Canadian resources can now be redirected to other operations.
The deployment is being reduced from the current 191 soldiers to four, and will be dropped to two by the end of July.
Lt.-Col. Sylvain Mangeon, the Canadian commander of the Operation Danaca task force, said the departure is bittersweet.
"I think they're leaving with a mixture of pride and sadness," said Mangeon, speaking from Tiberius, Israel.
"We all do our duty and we've been told the mission is going to end, but as far as we're concerned these last few weeks have been excellent and people are leaving very much on a high note."
The Canadian soldiers have provided logistics support to the mission. Their work included maintaining vehicles, providing communications services and military policing.
"The job that we're doing over here is actually one of support," said Mangeon.
"We do second line support and the successes are varied. When you're doing this type of work it's not at the front end… whether it's fixing vehicles, providing them with fuel, water and food, and many other aspects as well."
Canada first accepted a role in the region in 1974, joining the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) that was established after Syria and Israel agreed to a ceasefire.
Over the years, Canada has had 12,000 troops stationed in the region and has incurred 21 fatalities.
