Shtepia Botuese Osprey Publishing eshte nje shtepi botuese prestigjoze britanike e specializuar ne historine ushtarake. Ka butuar qindra tituj me karakter historik dhe ne serine e saj Elite me numer 146 merret me lufterat ne ish Jugosllavi duke u perqendruar ne konfliktet ne Bosnje, Kosove e Maqedoni.
Titulli eshte The Yugoslav Wars (2); Bosnia, Kosovo and Macedonia 1992-2001 dhe eshte shkruar nga Dr Nigel Thomas dhe Mikulan Krunoslav (kroat) dhe ilustruar nga Darko Pavlovic (kroat).
Po postoj pjesen qe ka te beje per luften ne Kosove.
Kosovo Liberation Army
The Ushtria Qlirimtare e Kosoves (UCK) was formed in 1992 by radical
nationalist members of the Albanian minority in Macedonia, but soon
moved to Kosovo to fill the vacuum created by Rugova's discredited
pacifist policies. On 22 Apr 1996 the UCK began offensive operations
against the VJ and MUP forces. Membership until 1998 was only about
300, expanding in that year to some 7,000, and to about 17,000 by
March 1999. These included activists from Kosovo and emigres from
Switzerland and Germany; about 300 ex-JNA personnel who had served
in two Croatian Army battalions in the Croatian Homeland War; and a
large number of part-time auxiliaries, all supported by funds from
Albanian emigres in the West. Initially the UCK was commanded by
Sylejman Selimi, replaced in May 1999 by Agim Ceku, a former JNA
captain and Croatian Army brigadir.
In summer 1998 Rugova's prime minister in exile in Switzerland,
Bujar Bukoshi, formed a rival force with Saudi Arabian support. This
Kosovo Republic Armed Forces (Forca e armatosura te Republikes se Kosoves
- FARK) was led by Ahmet Krasniqi; but in Sept 1998 the UCK killed
Krasniqi and absorbed his force. Agim Ceku reorganized the UCK,
giving it a conventional military structure. Kosovo was divided into seven
Operational Zones, each zone controlling 1-6 battalion-sized 'brigades'
(111-171 series); 27 brigades have been identified. Officially each had
1,000 men in 20 companies each of 50-60 men, but most brigades were
much smaller.
The OZs fought as independent units with minimal control from
GHQ, Five Islamic groups served in the UCK: the ABiH Black Swans; the
400-strong Albanian-American Atlantic Bde under Garni Shehu; a
120-man Iranian unit at Donji Prekaz; a Bosnian-Albanian unit led by an
Egyptian, Abu Ismail; and Mujahedin from Afghanistan, Algeria,
Chechnya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Sudan. The UCK was trained by CIA
and British SAS instructors at camps at Kukes, Tropoje and Bajram Curri
in NE Albania and Labinot near Tirana. Initially it was armed with assault
rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, but from March 1998 re-equipment
by the West noticeably improved its performance in the field - although
it could never match battle-hardened VJ and MUP units.
THE KOSOVO CONFLICT
The conflict can be divided into three phases: low-intensity warfare,
22 Apr 1996-28 Feb 1998; the Serb crackdown of Mar 1998-23 Mar
1999; and NATO intervention, 24 Mar-12 June 1999.
UCK strategy was to ferment unrest which the Serbs would feel
obliged to suppress with brutal force, thereby escalating the conflict and
compelling the West to intervene, thus forcing the Serbs to grant
Kosovan independence. Its covert agenda was to 'ethnically cleanse'
Kosovo of Serbs and other minorities.
On 22 Apr 1996 UCK guerrillas launched four simultaneous attacks
on Serb police and civilians; they then began assaulting isolated Serbian
police stations, setting up roadblocks in the countryside, attacking Serb
and other minority civilians, and assassinating those Kosovo-Albanians
considered to be collaborators. Montenegro remained neutral; but
President Milosevic retaliated in Mar 1997 by massively reinforcing Serb
forces in Kosovo. By Feb 1998 the 10,000-strong VJ Pristina Corps had
tripled to 30,000 (30 per cent of total VJ strength), and the 6,500
Serbian Police, PJP and SAJ were tripled to about 19,500 with reservists
and extra units. Meanwhile the UCK employed classic guerrilla
hit-and-run tactics while avoiding pitched battles.
In mid-Feb 1998 the UCK advanced from its Drenica heartland and
soon seized control of more than 30 per cent of Kosovo. This prompted
Milosevic to order the 49,500 VJ and MUP to take the offensive on
28 Feb 1998, to retake UCK-held areas and to eliminate the UCK as a
fighting force. This disguised his plan, Operation 'Horseshoe'
(Potkovica), to restore Serb control over Kosovo by killing the
Kosovo-Albanians or driving them into exile in Albania and elsewhere,
before repopulating the province with Serb refugees from Croatia and
Bosnia. In Mar 1998, MUP forces spearheaded by PJP brigades attacked
Drenica, held by III OZ, and later VJ units were deployed to seal off
the Kosovo border with Albania and to provide artillery and
helicopter-gunship support. The UCK's move from guerrilla to
conventional tactics proved premature, and by 28 July the Serbs had
re-occupied Drenica and stood on the Albanian border. By Aug 1998
they had retaken 90 per cent of Kosovo, forcing the UCK to abandon
most of its territory; hundreds of fighters and civilians were killed, and
about 360,000 civilians (36 per cent of the total Kosovar-Albanian
population) were driven from their homes, many fleeing to Albania
and Macedonia.
Milosevic's strategy to disguise ethnic cleansing as legitimate Serbian
military action against a secessionist guerrilla force could not work
indefinitely: the international community reacted, and on 23 Sept 1998
the UN demanded a ceasefire. They also demanded that Serb forces
return to barracks, and revert to their peacetime strength of 6,500 Police
and 10,600 VJ; and that by 27 Oct they permit access for an international
monitoring force, under threat of NATO air-strikes. Milosevic pursued a
deadly game of brinkmanship, convinced that he could still execute
Operation 'Horseshoe' - either because a disunited international
community would hang back, or because a few days or weeks of NATO
air-strikes would provide a convenient smokescreen. Thus Milosevic
initially complied with the UN demands, withdrawing forces into Serbia,
and concentrating his remaining units around Malisevo in central
Kosovo while the UCK reclaimed lost territory. Meanwhile the
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)
established the Kosovo Verification Mission (KVM) on 25 Oct, deploying
NATO aircraft and 2,000 OSCE personnel to Kosovo in November to
verify compliance with the ceasefire.
During Nov 1998 Milosevic secretly returned some VJ and MUP
units to Kosovo, and the next month fighting flared up. NATO's and
the KVM's 48 lack of reaction emboldened Milosevic, and on 15 Jan 1999- following two UCK ambushes and four police deaths in the vicinity -
the 'Magla' unit, supported by Serbian Police and VJ T-55 tanks,
attacked UCK positions around the village of Racak near Stimplje
(15 miles south of Pristina), killing 43 male civilians. Like Srebrenica,
the atrocity galvanized international opinion; on 30 Jan NATO
threatened air-strikes, and the six-nation Contact Group, formed in
Jan 1997, called a peace conference at Rambouillet, France, for 6 Feb.
The conference ended on 18 Mar without agreement; KVM monitors
withdrew on 22 Mar, and on 24 Mar NATO launched its 79-day
Operation 'Allied Force' air campaign.
NATO considered any target in Serbia, Vojvodina, Kosovo and
neutral Montenegro legitimate, and 730 USAF and 325 other NATO
aircraft flew 10,484 strike missions against VJ and MUP
concentrations. Although the Serbs - particularly the armoured units
- skilfully concealed their positions or offered dummy tanks as targets,
the VJ suffered heavy punishment, losing 26 tanks, 153 other AFVs,
389 artillery pieces and about 5,000 dead. The Yugoslav AF was
generally unsuccessful; its MiG-29 fighters briefly attacked targets in
Kosovo and Bosnia, and AA missiles managed to shoot down a
supposedly invulnerable US F-117 Nighthawk Stealth aircraft.
Meanwhile bombers and cruise missiles from 13 US Navy and 21 other
NATO aircraft carriers, assault ships, destroyers and frigates attacked
military, government and 'dual use' installations with impunity, since
the Yugoslav radar remained switched off to avoid retaliation. NATO
ground forces were confined to the US Army's 2 Bn/505 Parachute Inf
Rgt, 82 Abn Div at Tirana Airfield, Albania, ready for a ground
invasion of Kosovo.
On 24 Mar 1999, as destruction mounted in Belgrade and Serbia, the
MUP was subordinated to the VJ, forming an integrated command
under 3 Army commander Gen Pavkovic. More than 50,000 VJ and MUP
troops in Kosovo, supplemented by the JSO and Serb militias, launched
Operation 'Horseshoe', rounding up Albanians in northern and central
Kosovo and forcing them - by train, bus, car, cart or on foot - into NE
Albania. 15 Armd Bde in Pristina and 211 Armd Bde from Serbia immediately
secured the Pristina-Podujevo road,allowing 15 Armd, 37 & 125 Mot Bdes
with MUP support to advance from Pristina into Drenica. 125 Mot Bde then
advanced into southern Kosovo, joining 243 Mech Bde, which had just devastated
Malisevo. By 29 Mar the outclassed UCK were forced to retreat into Albania,
leaving a few units in isolated enclaves.
Now Serbian units - particularly 15 Armd and 125 Mot Bdes, SAJ, JSO, and about
2,000 Serb militiamen, joined in early April by 252 Armd, 549 Mot and 52 Mixed
Arty Bdes - targeted civilians. They imprisoned many in makeshift detention
camps, or killed the men and forced over 200,000 old people, women and children
into Albania and Macedonia, sealing the borders to prevent refugees returning.
By June 1999 about 15,000 Kosovar- Albanians were dead or missing, often
buried in hidden graves.
On 27 May 1999 the ICTY indicted Milosevic for war crimes in Kosovo, and
on 4 June Russia withdrew support from Serbia. The prolonged NATO campaign
had caused immense damage to Serbia's infrastructure, and VJ recruits were
failing to report for duty. Although MajGen Vladimir Lazarevic, commanding Pristina Corps, remained defiant, revitalized UCK forces were advancing from NE Albania towards Pec and Prizren, pushing back VJ 125 Mot, 52 Mixed Arty and 63 Para Bdes, which were battered by NATO air-strikes. Milosevic admitted
defeat on 4 June, and on the 10th signed a peace agreement with
NATO; next day a ceasefire took force. On 12 June, under Operation
Joint Guardian', NATO ground forces forming a 14-nation Kosovo
Force (KFOR) under the British LtGen Michael Jackson advanced into
Kosovo from Macedonia and Albania, as the 18,500-strong UCK fanned
across Kosovo to be greeted by the Kosovar-Albanians as liberators.
Meanwhile, VJ and MUP forces retreated to Serbia - to the dismay of
the Kosovar-Serb and some other minorities.
Southern Serbia
Under the peace agreement a 3-mile 'ground safety zone' was formed on
the Serb side of the Kosovo-Serb border, open to lightly armed Serb Police
but not to VJ or PJP Nevertheless, the jubilant UCK was determined to
spread its insurgency to regions in southern Serbia and Macedonia
containing ethnic Albanian minorities. On 26 Jan 2000 the Presevo,
Medvedja and Bujanovac Liberation Army (Ushtria Qlirimtare e Presheves,
50 Medvegjes dhe Bujanocit- UCPMB) was formed with UCK commanders and
ethnic Albanians, aiming to annex 'Eastern Kosova' - three districts in
southern Serbia between Kosovo and Macedonia. The 1,500-strong force
under Sefqet Musliu (HQ Dobrosin), divided into three Operational
Zones - North, Centre and South - began attacking Serb Police in Presevo
District; but on 24 May 2001 NATO, disenchanted with the
uncompromising Albanian nationalism, allowed the VJ to send units,
including elements of 63 Para and 72 Special Bdes, to re-occupy the
ground safety zone, forcing a UCPMB surrender on 26 May 2001.
Kosovo aftermath
On 10 June 1999 Kosovo, legally part of Serbia, was placed under the UN
Interim Administration in Kosovo (UNMIK), with a governor
('administrator') committed to building peace, democracy, stability and
self-government before returning Kosovo to Serbia. He was supported by
KFOR (HQ Pristina), initially 48,000-strong, later 17,000, in five, later
four sectors, each with a Multinational Brigade (MNB) or Multinational
Task Force (MNTF), drawn from 36 national contingents: British, later
Finnish, then Czech Sector (HQ Pristina) with MNB/MNTF Centre;
French Sector (HQ Kosovska Mitrovica) with MNB/MNTF North, in
Kosovo-Serb northern Kosovo; Italian Sector (HQ Pec), with MNB West,
and German Sector (HQ Prizren), with MNB South - later combined to
form MNB Southwest; and US Sector (HQ Gnjilane, later Urosavac), with
MNB East, called Task Force Falcon. The 5,891-strong Russian
contingent, deployed to the MNBs North, South & East to reassure the
Kosovo-Serbs, returned home in May 2002.
On 26 Oct 1999 the UN formed the UNMIK Police with about 4,500
seconded policemen in national uniforms, and by 2004 about 7,000 of
the Kosovo Police Service (KPS), divided among the five KFOR regions.
The KPS had about 5,950 Kosovo-Albanian and 1,050 Kosovo-Serb
personnel, wearing light blue uniforms with military ranks.
On 21 Sep 1999 the UCK disbanded, and the Kosovo Protection
Corps (Trupat e Mbrojtjes se Kosoves - TMK), formed ostensibly as an
unarmed civil defence organization for natural disaster relief. The TMK,
planned with 4,500 Kosovo-Albanians and 500 minority posts (no Serbs
and almost no minorities joined), was divided into five regional
response units, one for each KFOR Sector, and a mobile rapid response
unit. The Kosovo-Albanian agenda under Ceku, the TMK commander,
and Ibrahim Rugova - president on 4 Mar 2002, following free elections
- was an independent Kosovo. On 21 Jan 2006 Rugova died of lung
cancer, and on 10 Mar 2006 Ceku became prime minister, promising
early Kosovo independence.
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