The government officially decided July 29 to extend Japan's peacekeeping mission to the Golan Heights by about two years, Chief Cabinet Secretary Seiroku Kajiyama said.

The original term of the United Nations' mission expires in February. "The extension was decided in response to an earnest request from the U.N.," the top government spokesman said. "We understand that the mission has been evaluated highly by the U.N. and countries concerned."

A transport unit with 43 enlisted members and two officers from the Ground Self-Defense Force was sent to join the U.N. Disengagement Observer Force in February 1996. The personnel have been rotated every six months.