The newly appointed Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz criticized his government’s decision on withdrawing the Austrian force operating within the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) in the occupied Syrian Golan

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Austria newspaper quoted Kurz as saying that the decision to withdraw the Austrian forces within the UNDOF, taken by the Austrian government in June last year, was not the best decision and has negatively affected Austria’s reputation at the international level in this regard given the credibility it enjoys all over the world

He added that Austria will continue to support that international policy, noting however that the issue of sending back the Austrian forces to the Syrian Golan is out of the question for the time being

Austria announced on June 6, 2013 that it made a final decision to withdraw its forces working within the international observer force in Golan after members of the UNDOF came under attacks by the armed terrorist groups in Syria

A number of members of the Filipino battalion were kidnapped and later released in two separate incidents

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the UN Security Council condemned the abduction incidents and called for respecting the disengagement agreement

SANA