Croatian Troops Return Home From Syria

Croatian troops who had been stationed in Golan Heights as part of the UN operation returned home back to Croatia on Monday night. 97 Croatian Army troops landed at Zagreb International Airport just after 6pm last night after being pulled out of the operation by Croatia’s Prime Minister.

PM Zoran Milanovic, in consultation with President Ivo Josipovic, decided to withdraw the Croatian contingent from Golan Heights, which is the buffer zone between Israel and Syria, after the New York Times reported that Croatian arms had ended up in the hands of Syrian rebels. Milanovic decided that for safety reasons the troops should return home.

The New York Times reported that the arms were part of an undeclared surplus in Croatia remaining from the 1990s Balkan wars. One Western official said the shipments included “thousands of rifles and hundreds of machine guns” and an unknown quantity of ammunition.