From AP:  Croatia will withdraw some 100 peacekeeping troops from the Syria-Israel border after reports that Syrian rebels have been armed with Croatian weapons, Croatia’s president said Friday.

The government fears its troops could become targets for Syrian government soldiers fighting the rebels.

President Ivo Josipovic said the security situation in the Golan Heights has deteriorated and the safety of the Croatian soldiers serving in the U.N. Disengagement Observer Force is in jeopardy.

Croatian officials have denied reports by local media and The New York Times that arms, including machine guns, rifles and anti-tank grenades used in the Balkan wars in the 1990s, have been sent to the Syrian rebels trying to topple President Bashar Assad.

From Zoran Radosavljevic, Reuters:  The Croatian government denied the reports and said it had never sold or donated weapons to the rebels, but Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic said the damage was already done.

"We can deny over and over again, but everyone has already read these reports and our soldiers are no longer safe. We want them to return home safe and sound," he told a cabinet meeting. He did not elaborate further on Croatia’s reasons for the move. . . .

President Ivo Josipovic, the supreme commander of Croatia’s armed forces, said he would order the soldiers to be withdrawn.

"We shall respect Croatia’s international obligations and safety requirements of the soldiers from our partner countries," a statement by Josipovic’s office said on Thursday.  (photo: militaryphotos.net)  (via Blake Hounshell)

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