AUSTRIA/FILE: A spokesman for Austria's defence ministry plays down an incident earlier this month during which United Nations peacekeeping troops in the Golan Heights heard firefights between Syrian government forces and rebels

Record ID: 280497

  • Title: AUSTRIA/FILE: A spokesman for Austria's defence ministry plays down an incident earlier this month during which United Nations peacekeeping troops in the Golan Heights heard firefights between Syrian government forces and rebels
  • Date: 27th March 2012
  • Summary: GOLAN HEIGHTS (FILE - NOVEMBER 28, 1974) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) GOLAN HEIGHTS VARIOUS OF U.N. TROOPS VARIOUS OF U.N. JEEP PASSING CONTROL POST VARIOUS OF SIGN READING IN ENGLISH "U.N. - AUTHORIZED PERSONS ONLY" / U.N. VEHICLES DRIVING OUT OF COMPOUND U.N. ROADBLOCK GOLAN HEIGHTS (FILE - MAY 21, 1975) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF U.N. OBSERVATION POST IN
  • Embargoed: 11th April 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Austria
  • Country: Austria
  • Topics: Politics,Lifestyle
  • Reuters ID: LVA7PAB347CW6O64DX92NU2LBADQ
  • Story Text: Blue-helmeted United Nations peacekeeping troops patrolling a slice of Syrian territory to maintain a ceasefire with Israel face new risks as violence between Syrian government loyalists and rebels gets closer.
    In this tiny corner of Syria where the United Nations has a little-noticed foothold, peacekeepers stayed in their bunkers listening this month (March, 2012) as several Syrians were reportedly killed by gunmen loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.
    The U.N. Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) did not publicise the incident, and there was no report from Israeli forces whose nearby hilltop observation units possibly saw or heard at least one of two gunbattles in the valley below.
    This apparent desire to play down the threat reflects the tension gripping a small U.N. operation that ran successfully for 36 years and now faces a new challenge as a year-long Syrian uprising against Assad turns ever more violent.
    UNDOF numbers 1,050 soldiers from Austria, Philippines, India, Japan, Croatia and Canada. About 800 of them patrol on the Syrian side of the 1973 Golan Heights ceasefire line.
    Their mandate is to oversee a dagger-shaped 400 square km (155 square mile) "area of separation" where Syrian military forces are not allowed, but where Syrian security, police, customs officers and hunters may carry firearms.
    Austrian Defence Ministry spokesman Michael Bauer confirmed there had been a gunfight, but said U.N. troops did not witness the incident first-hand.
    "Indeed there was a gunfight involving unidentified persons. The Austrian U.N. soldiers were unable to witness this incident themselves but they provided first aid after the incident as soldiers on field missions have to do," Bauer said in Vienna on Monday (March 26).
    Three weeks ago Austrian and Croatian troops at fixed observer posts in the "area of separation" heard firefights, at Jabbata al Khashab and Khan Arnabah, involving an estimated 140 Syrian gunmen, according to intelligence sources who disclosed the incident to Austria's Kurier tabloid a week later.
    By using paramilitaries for a manhunt rather than uniformed troops, Syria could hope to avoid an overt violation of the disengagement agreement, to which Israel might respond.
    "In the field it is not always possible to distinguish a soldier from a civilian. Sometimes civilians wear parts of military uniforms and sometimes soldiers are dressed in civilian clothes. Therefore I can not say for certain," Bauer said.
    He played down the significance of the incident and stressed that while not common, similar incidents had happened before and been dealt with successfully.
    "Of course missions abroad are always dangerous - otherwise the Austrian army would not be there - but I do not want to exaggerate this kind of incident. Incidents like this have always happened during the long, decades-long history of the U.N. mission in the Golan Heights. They are certainly not a daily occurrence, but incidents like this have happened. Using their vast experience, Austrian U.N. soldiers have resolved these incidents to everybody's satisfaction."
    UNDOF may protest to Damascus if it believes Syrian soldiers entered the area of separation with unauthorised military equipment such as machineguns and army trucks.
    The United Nations says at least 8,000 people have been killed in Syria. A Syrian official said this week that insurgents had killed more than 3,000 security force members, With Assad no longer assured of total control, the exposed position of the U.N. force on the frontier may be a cause for concern at U.N. peacekeeping headquarters in New York.
    Damascus is only 60 km (37 miles) from the fortified "Alpha Bravo Charlie Gate" where UNDOF shuttles between its logistics base Camp Ziouani, on the Israeli side of the line, and Camp Faouar inside Syria, where most of the peacekeepers are based.
    It is not clear which way they would go if they had to be extracted, backing into Israel or flying out from Damascus.
    No Syrian refugees have so far reached the solitary Golan crossing seeking access to Israel or U.N. protection, Austrian Major Stefan Eder said last week.
    UNDOF is lightly armed, with armoured vehicles for self-defence only. Much of its upland operating area is a former battlefield, littered with destroyed tanks, where landmines and unexploded munitions were until recently the only hazard.
    Some 50,000 Syrians live in towns and farm hamlets below in the area of separation, under Syrian civil administration.
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