Austria to withdraw its troops from Golan Heights slowly

Austria may withdraw its peacekeeping troops from the Golan Heights more slowly than first planned to allow the United Nations extra time to arrange an orderly handover, Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger said on Tuesday, according to Reuters. The United Nations has asked Vienna to keep soldiers in the buffer zone between Syria and Israel until the end of July, a month longer than the four-week timetable Austria gave when it announced on June 6 it was recalling its forces. "We are still going to pull out, but the question of how and when has to be negotiated with the U.N.," Spindelegger told reporters. The defence ministry, however, has said the withdrawal would go as planned. Spindelegger said Austria's troop commitment accord stipulated that any exit from the Golan, where the Philippines and India also have troops, requires three months' notice. "These three months would end on Sept. 6. The offer from the U.N. says July 31. Now we, together with the defence ministry, have to see that we reach a joint withdrawal plan with the U.N. that heeds everyone's interests," he said. Nearly 70 Austrian peacekeepers have already returned, leaving just over 300 on the Golan as the U.N. urgently tries to plug the looming gap in the observer mission known as UNDOF.