Fears Syria war spreading as Austria quits Golan Heights

Austria announced it is withdrawing 377 UN peacekeepers from the Golan Heights after Syrian rebels briefly overran a crossing point near the border with Israel, a development that has deepened concerns the civil war is spreading to neighbouring countries.

Fighting between President Bashar Assad’s forces and mainly Sunni rebels has already spilled over Syria’s borders into Turkey and Lebanon, where factions that support opposing sides have frequently clashed. From the Israeli side of the Golan, tanks and armoured vehicles could be seen from about a kilometre way in the Syrian-controlled part of the territory. Thick smoke and flames rose from the area and a large fire raged.

Elsewhere al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri tapped into the deepening Sunni-Shi’ite rift stemming from the conflict, calling on Sunnis everywhere to devote their lives, money and expertise to the overthrow the regime, set up Islamic rule in Syria and prevent a US-allied government from taking over after Assad, whose regime is dominated by the Alawite sect, an offshoot group of Shi’ite Islam.

Al-Zawahri also urged Sunnis to “rise above their differences” and fight expanding Shiite influence in Syria. The authenticity of al-Zawahri’s message, which came in an audio recording on the internet, could not be independently confirmed, but it was posted on a militant website commonly used by al Qaeda.

Al-Zawahri has repeatedly called for holy war in Syria and has blasted Lebanese Shi’ite Hezbollah militants and Iran for supporting Assad. He joins other Sunni leaders who have used the sectarian undertones of the conflict to widen support for the rebels.

Austrian chancellor Werner Fayman and foreign minister Michael Spindelegger said the fighting over the border position in the Golan, a demilitarised area in the plateau captured by Israel from Syria in 1967, made it necessary to withdraw their troops.

The Israeli foreign ministry said it regretted the decision and hoped that it would not lead to “further escalation in the region”.

Israeli officials say the fall of the “symbolic” Quneitra border position, which lies along an important route to Damascus, would have a greater impact on the Syrian war than the Jewish state. Quneitra is the only crossing along the ceasefire line.