Japan withdraws its forces from Golan Heights

Japan is withdrawing its Self-Defense Force (SDF) personnel from U.N. peacekeeping mission in Golan Heights three months ahead of the planned pullout because of escalation of fighting in neighboring Syria, RTT News reported. SDF service-members were scheduled to leave Golan Heights in March,2013, but the government's national security meeting agreed to end the mission early. SDF personnel are expected to return home starting next week, and that the military hardware would be transported out of the area by mid-January. The SDF mission, which began in 1996, was its longest overseas operation, and it was for the first time that the government ended an overseas operation on security reasons.