Austria links UN peacekeepers to Syria arms ban |

Austria links UN peacekeepers to Syria arms ban

FILE - In this May 7, 2013 file photo Austrian Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor Michael Spindelegger from the Austrian People's Party speaks during a press conference after the weekly cabinet meeting at the federal chancellery in Vienna, Austria. Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger called Friday May 24, 2013 for an extension of the arms embargo for Syria ahead of an EU meeting on the issue, saying his country would have to rethink its U.N. peacekeeping role in the region otherwise. Austria's 377 soldiers make up the majority of the approximately 900 U.N. peacekeepers posted to the Golan Heights separating Syria and Israel. Spindelegger told The Associated Press that they could be targeted by Syrian government forces if EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels Monday decided to allow members to ship arms to rebels trying to topple President Bashir Assad. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak, File)

More from this Slideshow

0 of 0

Austria links UN... FILE - In this May 7, 2013 file photo Austrian Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor Michael Spindelegger from the Austrian People's Party speaks during a press conference after the weekly cabinet meeting at the federal chancellery in Vienna, Austria. Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger called Friday May 24, 2013 for an extension of the arms embargo for Syria ahead of an EU meeting on the issue, saying his country would have to rethink its U.N. peacekeeping role in the region otherwise. Austria's 377 soldiers make up the majority of the approximately 900 U.N. peacekeepers posted to the Golan Heights separating Syria and Israel. Spindelegger told The Associated Press that they could be targeted by Syrian government forces if EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels Monday decided to allow members to ship arms to rebels trying to topple President Bashir Assad. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak, File)
France won't for... French President Francois Hollande leaves the ceremony to mark the 150th birthday of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, Germany, Thursday May 23, 2013. (AP Photo/dpa, Jan Woitas)
Muslim hard-line... Police officers lay down floral tributes handed to them by members of the public at the scene of a terror attack in Woolwich, southeast London, Thursday, May 23, 2013. The British government’s emergency committee met Thursday after two attackers killed a man in a daylight attack in London that raised fears terrorism had returned to the capital. (AP Photo/Sang Tan)
Vatican releases... Rene Brulhart, director of the Financial Information Authority, an institution established by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010 to monitor the monetary and commercial activities of Vatican agencies, and Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi, meet the press at the Vatican, Wednesday, May 22, 2013. The Vatican took another step Wednesday in trying to show greater financial transparency by publishing a first annual report from its financial watchdog agency and announcing new regulations to fight money laundering and terror financing that are expected in the coming weeks and months. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
2 brown bears re... Male brown bear Ari and female bear Arina in a bear sanctuary, after being rescued from a decade of captivity in a privately run illegal zoo, Thursday, May 23, 2013, in the village of Mramor near the Kosovo capital Pristina . Two brown bears, Ari and Arina have been released into a bear Sanctuary, in Kosovo after being rescued from a decade of captivity in a 20 square meter cage to amuse visitors of a restaurant, Kosovo officials say. Authorities released the 10-year old male and female bears on Thursday to a wider enclosure set up by the international animal charity group Four Paws. The organisation was called in to help sedate and transport the animals. ( AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)
Ukrainian journa... In this image made from video Ukrainian journalists covering a government session stand with their backs turned on Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, not in the picture, to display identical posters attached to their shirts, in Kiev, Ukraine, Wednesday, May 22, 2013. The posters read "Today the Journalist. Tomorrow your wife, sister, daughter. Act!" Ukrainian reporters on Wednesday disrupted a government session chaired by the prime minister, suggesting his family members could be the next victims of official inaction after police in Kiev stood by while pro-government activists attacked two journalists covering an opposition protest. (AP Photo/Channel 5) ** TV OUT **
Jerry Lewis repe... Comedian Jerry Lewis poses for photographers during a photo call for the film Max Rose at the 66th international film festival, in Cannes, southern France, Thursday, May 23, 2013. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)
German oppositio... French President Francois Hollande, right, gestures next to Sigmar Gabriel, chairman of the German Social Democratic Party, SPD, left, in Leipzig, Germany, Thursday, May 23, 2013. Germany's main opposition party , SPD , is celebrating the 150th birthday. The Social Democratic Party is marking Thursday's anniversary with festivities in Leipzig, the eastern city where it was born in 1863. Guests include its main rival: popular conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel, who's just been named the world's most powerful woman by Forbes magazine for the third consecutive year. (AP Photo/Jens Meyer)
UK PM: London at... A tent is erected near the scene of an attack in Woolwich southeast London Wednesday, May, 22, 2013. British officials said one person has died and at least two people have been wounded in an attack in southeast London. Scotland Yard said officers responded to reports of an assault Wednesday afternoon in the London neighbourhood of Woolwich. London Ambulance service said one man was found dead at the scene and two other men were taken to the hospital, with one in serious condition. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)
EU steps up figh... German Chancellor Angela Merkel addresses the media at the end of an EU summit in Brussels on Wednesday, May 22, 2013. European Union leaders on Wednesday sought to advance their fight against tax fraud and close the loopholes for large corporations' tax avoidance schemes. (AP Photo/Ezequiel Scagnetti)