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Journalism of Courage
ISABEL KERSHNER
Rebels fighting the Syrian government seized the only border crossing along the Israeli-Syrian ceasefire line in the Golan Heights Thursday,according to Israeli military and rebel groups,forcing the UN peacekeeping soldiers who patrol the crossing to vacate it and bringing the Syrian conflict ever closer to Israeli-held territory.
Israeli forces were placed on alert along the frontier as the violence of the Syrian civil war threatened to spill over.
The rebel takeover of the border crossing,Quneitra,lasted for at least several hours,and it was unclear by late Thursday whether Syrian government forces had routed them. Clashes in the area raged through much of the day.
The mayhem was enough to threaten the continuation of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force,the longtime peacekeeping mission in the sensitive and disputed area.
The Quneitra crossing is patrolled by Austrian United Nations peacekeepers,who were ordered to pull back for their own safety.
Later in Vienna,the Austrian government said it was withdrawing its contingent from the force. Chancellor,Werner Faymann,was quoted by APA,the Austrian press agency,as saying he had spoken with Ban Ki-moon,the United Nations secretary general,and personally informed him about the decision.
Josephine Guerrero,a spokeswoman for the UN peacekeeping forces,confirmed in an e-mail that Austria had informed the United Nations of its intended withdrawal. She also said two personnel from the peacekeeping force were injured by mortar rounds fired in the area but did not further identify them.
Austrians account for about 380 of the 1,000-strong United Nations force that has monitored the disengagement zone between Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights since 1974. The Philippines provides about 300 and India provides the rest. A fourth country,Croatia,withdrew its contingent earlier this year.
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