UNTSO’s mandate is prescribed in Security Council resolutions 50 (1948), 54 (1948) and 73 (1949). The Council adopted resolution 50 calling for a cessation of hostilities in Palestine and instructing the United Nations Mediator, assisted by unarmed military observers, to supervise the truce between Israel and its Arab neighbors and in subsequent resolutions 54 and 73 to assist the parties (Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon and Syria) to the 1949 Armistice Agreements in the supervision of their application and observance of their terms.
UNTSO’s core functions and the allocation of its resources have been adjusted over time in response to regional crises or conflict resolutions and are currently, regional liaison and deployment of military observers to monitor, observe, report on and verify ceasefires. It maintains channels for its
assistance to the parties in relation to the supervision of the application and observance of the terms of the Armistice Agreements through its core function of liaison with governmental authorities and the diplomatic corps in the five mandated countries. UNTSO, through Observer Groups Golan and Lebanon assists UNDOF and UNIFIL in their respective mandates of monitoring ceasefires on the Golan and southern Lebanon.
