beirut: Austria will recall its peacekeepers from the UN monitoring force on the Golan Heights after worsening fighting between Syrian government forces and rebels sent its soldiers scurrying into bunkers for cover.
Austrians account for about 380 of the 1,000-strong UN force observing a decades-old ceasefire between Syria and Israel, and their departure after 39 years will deal a serious blow to the mission.
“Our soldiers are not trained or deployed for a military operation between government troops and rebels,” Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann told a news conference, saying they were not safe in a buffer zone that was no longer respected.
A UN spokeswoman said Austria had been a “backbone of the mission” and its withdrawal would affect the force’s operational capacity. The decision came hours after Syrian rebels seized a UN-manned border crossing linking Syria and Israel. Israeli security sources later reported Syrian troops had retaken it after heavy fighting.
Austrian Defence Minister Gerald Klug said the pullout would likely take place over two to four weeks, with the first troops perhaps coming out as part of a planned rotation next Tuesday.
He said the withdrawal could take place much faster if the situation escalated - “a shorter orderly exit within a few hours is possible” — and said returning soldiers could eventually join other Austrian peacekeeping missions in global hot spots. The United Nations said it was in discussions with other countries about providing replacement troops.
The blue-helmeted ranks of UNDOF, the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force, have already seen Japanese and Croatian troops depart since the Syrian conflict began in 2011.
The Philippines, the other main contributor of combat troops, is still deciding whether to exit after cases where Syrian rebels held its peacekeepers captive. A Filipino soldier was wounded in crossfire yesterday. India also has soldiers in the mission.
Diplomats have said in the past that Fijian soldiers were likely to fill some gaps, but it was unclear if this was still feasible. In any event, the departure of the critical Austrian contingent is expected to cause the United Nations big problems.reuters
