Summary
The Battle of Oraovica (Serbian: Bitka na Oraovica) was a conflict between the army and police of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Albanian militant group Liberation Army of Preševo, Medveđa and Bujanovac (UÇPMB) during the 1999-2001 insurgency in the Preševo Valley.
| Battle of Oraovica | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Insurgency in the Preševo Valley | |||||||||
 | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Federal Republic of Yugoslavia |
 Liberation Army of Preševo, Medveđa and Bujanovac | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
|
Ninoslav Krstić Goran Radosavljević |
Bardhyl Osmani † Mustafa Shaqiri | ||||||||
| Units involved | |||||||||
211st Tank Brigade 78th Motorized Brigade 63rd Parachute Brigade 72nd Brigade for Special Operations Police of Serbia |
111th Brigade 113th Brigade 115th Brigade | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
|
None[1] |
2 killed (UÇPMB claim)[1] 8 wounded 14-20 killed 80 POWs (Yugoslav claim) | ||||||||
Background edit
After the end of the Kosovo War in 1999 with the signing of the Kumanovo agreement,[2] a 5-kilometre-wide Ground Safety Zone (GSZ) was created. It served as a buffer zone between the Yugoslav Army and the Kosovo Force (KFOR).[3][4] In June 1999, a new Albanian militant insurgent group was formed under the UÇPMB, which started training in the GSZ.[5][6] The group began attacking Serbian civilians and police, which escalated into an insurgency.[7]
Battle edit
The village of Oraovica was under the control of UÇPMB. On 14 May Yugoslav forces launched an attack on the UÇPMB stronghold in this Albanian-populated place near the border with Kosovo. Fighting began on 13 May at 6:10 a.m by an attack on Yugoslav forces. At 7:00 a.m, Albanian men attacked Serbian police and army again and fired three rocket towards the village. More incidents happened during the day until 8:00 p.m. On 14 May, Serbian forces captured Oraovica after the UÇPMB attacked them at 2:15 p.m.[1]
References edit
- ^ a b c "Yugoslavia: Troops Win Tactical Victory In Presevo Valley". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. 16 May 2001. Retrieved 29 June 2018.
- ^ NATO (9 June 1999). "Military Technical Agreement between the International Security Force ("KFOR") and the Governments of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Republic of Serbia". Retrieved 15 August 2008.
- ^ "Ground Safety Zone (GSZ): Time out for rebel strong hold - Serbia | ReliefWeb". reliefweb.int. 1 June 2001. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
- ^ "Supervision of Kosovo's borders and military-technical agreement". Zyra e Kryeministrit. 23 August 2016. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
- ^ Yonah Alexander; Richard Prosen (15 August 2015). NATO: From Regional to Global Security Provider. Lexington Books. pp. 93–. ISBN 978-1-4985-0369-3.
- ^ Corson, Mark W.; Turregano, Clemson G. (2002). "Spaces of unintended consequences: The Ground Safety Zone in Kosovo". Springer. 57: 273–282.
- ^ Rafael Reuveny; William R. Thompson (5 November 2010). Coping with Terrorism: Origins, Escalation, Counterstrategies, and Responses. SUNY Press. pp. 185–. ISBN 978-1-4384-3313-4.