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.