Austria Withdrawing Peacekeepers from Golan Heights

Due to Syrian civil war spillover

Austria announced on Thursday that it is withdrawing the country's 377 U.N. peacekeepers from the Golan Heights after the Syrian conflict briefly spilled over to an area near their position.

In a statement, Chancellor Werner Fayman and Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger said 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.