Austria withdrawing its UN peacekeepers from Golan

Austria's government says it is withdrawing the country's 377 UN peacekeepers from the Golan Heights for safety reasons after the Syrian conflict briefly spilled over to an area near their position, ABC News reported. Chancellor Werner Fayman and Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger say in a statement that "the development ... has shown that further waiting can no longer be justified." Rebels briefly overran a border position near the destroyed city of Kuneitra early Thursday before Syrian government troops retook it. The peacekeepers receive most of their supplies through that position from Israel. Austria's soldiers make up the largest contingent of the approximately 900 UN peacekeepers posted to the Golan Heights separating Syria and Israel.