Demilitarized zone

Former demilitarized zones

• El Caguán DMZ – A demilitarized zone was established in southern Colombia between 1999 and 2002, during the failed peace process that involved the Government of President Andrés Pastrana and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
• China – The Imperial Japanese Army conquered Manchuria between September 1931 and February 1932, when they proclaimed the region the state of Manchukuo. In May 1933, the Tanggu Truce between China and Japan was concluded, establishing a demilitarized zone between Manchukuo and China. In 1937 Japan violated this truce with an invasion of the remainder of China. In 1945, after the fall of the Japanese empire at the end of the Asia-Pacific theater of World War II, Manchuria was re-incorporated into China.
• Ecuador – a demilitarized zone was established on 2 October 1941, after the war between Ecuador and Peru, which existed under Ecuadorian administration and under the observation of neutral mediator nations: the United States, Brazil and Argentina. The DMZ was abolished in 1942, with the withdrawal of Peruvian forces from El Oro Province after the signing of the Rio Protocol.
• A neutral territory was established between the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar and Spain after the end of the 1727 siege. A strip of land 600 toises (about 1.2 km or 3⁄4 mi) long, more than two cannon shots' distance between the British and Spanish guns, was called "the neutral ground" and shown as such on older maps. In 1908, the British built a fence in a portion claimed to be the British half of the neutral territory. Spain does not recognize British sovereignty over the isthmus (including the border), asserting it is Spanish soil. Although both the United Kingdom and Spain used to be part of the European Union (before the United Kingdom's exit), the border was a de facto international frontier with customs and immigration checks; Spain does not formally recognize it as a "frontier", referring to it as a "fence". Whatever its name, Gibraltar opted out of the European Union Customs Union and is not part of the Schengen Area; the border is open 24 hours a day, with customs duties payable on designated goods entering Spain or Gibraltar.
• Ground Safety Zone – A 5-kilometre-wide (3.1 mi) demilitarized area between FR Yugoslavia and Kosovo was created under the Kumanovo Agreement following the Kosovo War that existed between 1999 and 2001. Following the Insurgency in the Preševo Valley, Serbian forces were allowed to enter GSZ.
• Idlib demilitarization agreement zone – A 15 km (9 mi) demilitarized zone, created by agreement between Russian and Turkish government, splitting the last major stronghold of the Syrian rebels from the Syrian government controlled area amidst the Syrian Civil War.
• Israel and Egypt:
  • Following the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, a DMZ (the El Auja Zone) was created by the 1949 Armistice Agreements between Israel and Egypt.
• Israel and Jordan:
  • The Israeli enclave and Jordanian area on Mt. Scopus was designated as a DMZ.
  • The area around the Latrun salient.
• Israel and Syria: Following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, three DMZs were created by the 1949 Armistice Agreements between Israel and Syria.
• Northern Syria Buffer Zone – A 115 km (71 mi) demilitarized zone in northern Syria straddling portions of the Syria–Turkey border. It was established between Turkey and the United States, both NATO allies, during the Syrian Civil War to prevent clashes between Kurdish and Turkish forces. The DMZ collapsed in October 2019, after Turkey dismissed the agreement and the United States ordered a withdrawal of US forces from northern Syria, allowing the 2019 Turkish offensive into north-eastern Syria to go ahead.
• Norway and Sweden established a demilitarized zone of 1 km (1,100 yards) on each side of their border after the dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden in 1905. The zone was abolished by mutual agreement in 1993.
• Rhineland – The Treaty of Versailles designated the Rhineland as a demilitarized zone after World War I, prohibiting the Weimar Republic from deploying its military there. It was re-occupied and re-militarized in 1936 by Nazi Germany in violation of international treaties.
• Saudi–Iraqi neutral zone – The Uqair Protocol established a demilitarized zone between the Sultanate of Nejd and the Kingdom of Iraq, which at the time was a League of Nations mandate administered by the British Empire. Nejd was later incorporated into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The zone was partitioned in 1981 but the treaty was not filed with the United Nations. The zone was finally officially abolished during the Persian Gulf War, when Iraq and Saudi Arabia cancelled all international agreements with each other.
• Saudi–Kuwaiti neutral zone – The Uqair Protocol established a neutral zone between the Sultanate of Nejd and the British protectorate of Kuwait in 1922. It was partitioned by mutual agreement in 1970.
• In the aftermath of World War I, a demilitarized zone encompassing the Turkish Straits and two Aegean islands (Imbros and Tenedos) was established by the Allied Powers in the Treaty of Sèvres. The zone was supervised by the International Straits Commission under the League of Nations system. The rules governing the demilitarized status was heavily modified by the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923. The zone was later abolished by the Montreux Convention in 1936.
• Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone – The demilitarized zone between North Vietnam and South Vietnam was established on 20 July 1954 as a result of the Geneva Peace Accords signed by the Viet Minh and France. The DMZ in Vietnam officially lay at the 17th parallel and ended after the Vietnam War on 30 April 1975; in reality, it extended about 2 km (1 mi) on either side of the Bến Hải River and west to east from the Lao border to the South China Sea.