The United Nations Truce Supervision Organisation, established in 1948, is the oldest ongoing United Nations peacekeeping operation. It operates in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Israel, the parties to the Truce Agreements that followed the fighting in Palestine in 1948. The mission’s mandate “to observe and maintain any truce or ceasefire demanded by the Security Council and to assist the parties in supervising any agreements concluded by them” is open-ended and does not require periodic renewal. Irish officers have served as Military Observers with UNTSO since December 1958.