Austria to withdraw its troops from the Occupied Golan Heights

 Austria has announced that it is going to withdraw its contributions to UN forces in the Occupied Golan Heights after Syrian rebels and Assad’s forces battled near a crossing point close to the border with Israel.

 The Austrian forces represented around 380 out of the 1,000 UN forces stationed within the Golan Heights. “Freedom of movement in the area de facto no longer exists. The uncontrolled and immediate danger to Austrian soldiers has risen to an unacceptable level,” the Austrian chancellor, Werner Faymann, and his deputy, Michael Spindelegger, said in a joint statement, according to the Israeli newspapers.

While the situation is rapidly deteriorating in Syria, the UN presence along the Israeli-Syrian border will be significantly weaker without Austria, representing a serious blow to the UN’s mission in the region. It is a move which is greatly detrimental to Middle Eastern stability in an era when Assad is committing a democide against his own people and battles between rebel forces and the Syrian government are frequently spilling over into Israeli territory. The Israeli press said.

 ''Without a strong UN presence along the Syrian-Israeli borders, relations between Israel and Syria are more vulnerable to conflict.''

According to Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu, “Only last week, we saw battles close to our border on the Golan Heights. Israel is not intervening in the Syrian civil war, as long as fire is not being directed at us.” He emphasized, “The crumbling of the U.N. force on the Golan Heights underscores the fact that Israel cannot depend on international forces for its security. They can be part of the arrangements.