Chinese UN military observers return from Syria

BEIJING - The last four Chinese United Nations (UN) military observers finished their mission in Syria and returned to Beijing on Saturday morning.

They had been among the last UN military observers in the country after the UN Security Council ended its 120-day observer mission there on August 19.

A total of nine Chinese officers worked on the UN observer mission and the other five had returned to China in July when the UN Security Council decided to cut the number of observers by half.

The officers displayed courage and professionalism in their mission and represented Chinese people's goodwill for peace in the Middle East country, said a statement from the peace-keeping affairs office of the Ministry of National Defense.

They faced dangers and challenges amid the political turmoil in Syria and won recognition from the mission and their colleagues, the statement said.

China will continue taking an active part in UN peacekeeping missions and contribute to world peace and security, it said.

On April 21, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution to approve the deployment to Syria of up to 300 unarmed UN military observers in order to monitor a ceasefire between Syrian government forces and armed opposition fighters.

On August 17, the United Nations Security Council agreed to replace the observer mission in Syria with a small civilian liaison office in Damascus.