Serbian troops on high alert after Kosovo's forces raid Serb-populated regions

South Front
Tue, 28 May 2019 10:52 UTC

© Al Jazeera

Serbia ordered its troops to full alert on May 28 after heavily armed Kosovo police had entered Serb-populated regions of the former Serbian province and made several arrests in the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija (northern Kosovo).

Serbia's state TV reported that shots were heard and tear gas was used as Kosovo's special police "burst into" one of the villages with armored vehicles early in the morning. The Kosovo force involved in the tension reportedly includes at least 73 vehicles.

The region involved in the tensions is located on the contact line between the area controlled by Serbia and Kosovo forces. It is 90 percent populated by Serbs, who refuse to be part of the self-proclamed Republic of Kosovo.

The municipality of Zubin Potok is reportedly one of the places of tensions. Locals are reportedly building a kind of barricades to prevent Kosovo forces vehicles from moving through the area.

Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj confirmed the action. Via Twitter, he claimed that an "anti-smuggling and organized crime operation" is underway in the area. Kosovo 'authorities' said at least two policemen were injured during the action.

Serbian sources described claims about the anti-smuggling and anti-crime operaton as nonsense. Different reports say that from 10 to 13 people were detained by Kosovo forces. A Russian member of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo was among detained persons.

Serbian government official Marko Djuric said the Kosovo forces action is designed to intimidate and expel Serbs from Kosovo and presents "not only a threat to stability but the most direct threat to peace."

"If this doesn't stop immediately, there is no doubt how Serbia will react already during the day," Djuric warned.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic says that if Kosvo does not halt his activities, his country will be forced to act.

Comment: Al Jazeera reports:

President Hashim Thaci called on the ethnic Serb minority to remain calm and support the police, saying the fight against organised crime would speed up the country's process towards integration with the West.

"Those involved in illegal activities will go behind bars," he wrote on his Facebook page, adding that the police operation was not targeting ethnicities.

Kosovo authorities said at least two policemen were injured during the action.

Serbian government official Marko Djuric said the Kosovo police action is designed to intimidate and expel Serbs from Kosovo and presents "not only a threat to stability but the most direct threat to peace".

Any Serbian armed incursion in Kosovo would mean a direct clash with NATO peacekeepers there.

State TV also reported that a meeting of the country's top security body is under way following the tensions. The report said Vucic will speak in parliament later on Tuesday about the developments.

Serbia lost control over Kosovo after a NATO intervention in 1999 that stopped a bloody Serb crackdown against Kosovo Albanian separatists and civilians.

Serbia does not recognise Kosovo's 2008 declaration of independence.

On Monday, Vucic warned of renewed clashes in Kosovo if a negotiated "compromise" solution for Serbia's predominantly ethnic Albanian former province is not found soon.

See also:

• Kosovo's US-backed army: A nominal claim to statehood, revenge on EU and future NATO vassal
• Serbia greenlights expansion of Russia's Turkish Stream gas pipeline