JAPANESE PEACEKEEPERS ARRIVE IN DAMASCUS ON THEIR WAY TO THE GOLAN HEIGHTS, 1999-01-31 (photo)

Pioneers of a 24-soldier Japanese unit pose for a photograph on their arrival at Damasus International airport January 30 on their way to the Israeli occupied Golan Heights where they will join the U.N. peacekeeping forces. About 1,050 U.N. peacekeepers have been stationed in the Golan Heights since 1974 to monitor the ceasefire between Syria and Israel in the heights which were captured by Israel in the 1967 middle east war. In December 1996, Japan's cabinet approved a plan for Japanese peacekeepers to go to the Golan Heights for a two year assignment. SULTAN SLEIMAN