Croatian President Ivo Josipovic, who is the supreme commander of the national armed forces, on Friday confirmed that he had received a report on three attacks of Croatian peacekeepers deployed on the Golan Heights as part of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) mission, and that the Croatian observers had been disarmed in those incidents.
"Some of the data is not for the public, as it may affect the safety and security of our troops. However, now that all of them are here after their withdrawal, there is no reason not to talk about it. Such incidents that occur in peace missions are not the reason for the withdrawal of our contingents, but the reason was the publication of information that in a completely different way articulates our presence and puts our soldiers on the ground at risk," Josipovic said.
Until the publication of such information, Croatian observers were perceived as unbiased, however, the said information changed the perception among local forces, Josipovic explained.
"Therefore, taking into consideration the Croatian contingent's equipment and size and the nature of its mission, the decision to pull them from the Golan was the only possible decision and following consultations with the prime minister, we decided together to make such a decision in line with the Constitution and laws, which was also supported by the Croatian parliament," Josipovic said.
Deputy Defence Minister Visnja Tafra told the Croatian parliament on Thursday that all Croatian troops had been pulled from the Golan Heights for security reasons.
President Josipovic issued a formal decision for the withdrawal of Croatian troops on March 1 to protect the security of the Croatian soldiers serving in the UN mission on the Golan Heights.
In compliance with the Croatian state leadership's decision to swiftly pull out Croatian observers from that UN mission for security reasons, all 97 members of the Croatian Armed Forces' 10th contingent returned to Croatia on March 18.
The decision on the withdrawal came after The New York Times reported in late February that "Saudi Arabia had underwritten a large purchase of infantry arms in Croatia" for the purpose of arming Syrian rebels.
