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BOMBING OF SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO

 This page deals with one of the greatest crimes committed against Serbian people- the bombing of the Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) which lasted from 24 March until 10 June 1999.

This planned action was conducted by the countries-members of the NATO alliance under the code name “Меrciful Angel”, without consent of the UN. It was the fourth intervention of NATO in the territory of ex-SFRY during the 1990s, and it was preceded by the bombing of the airport Udbina in the Republic of Srpska Krajina on 21 November 1994, the bombing of the surrounding of the city of Knin during the ethnic cleansing known as “Storm” in August 1995, and the bombing of the Serbian Republic in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Autumn of 1995. Moreover, it was the first time after World War II that a capital city in Europe had been bombed.

BACKGROUND

The fact that they had autonomy within SFRJ wasn’t acceptable to Albanians since their long term aim was to gain an independent state (although they have a sovereign state- the Republic of Albania). In the period 1970-1985, Albanians committed more than 2,200 crimes in Kosovo, against Serbian civilians. It caused the silent migration of Serbs from Kosovo because they didn’t receive protection from the authorities. The tremendous number of continuing crimes led to the abolition of autonomy in Kosovo and Vojvodina in 1989.

In the spring of 1997, the NATO alliance in the Republic of Albania formed training camps for Albanian terrorists, providing necessary logistics for their infiltration into the territory of Serbia through the Prokletije mountain range. Established as the so-called KLA (Kosovo Liberation Army), this Albanian terrorist group began attacks against Serbian and other non-Albanian civilians, and later policemen and soldiers, too.

These triggered the conflict leading to the open war in Kosovo and Metohija which occurred in the Spring of 1998. The International Press spread the news that the Serbian army was killing Albanian civilians. In October, the bombing was prevented by the “Holbrooke-Milosevic” agreement.

Due to the lack of evidence of an actual crime committed by the Serbian army, NATO sent William Walker, the representative of the OEBS mission to the village of Racak where the bitter conflict was fought between Albanian terrorists and Serbian police on 15 and 16 January 1999. The role of Willian Walker was to present to the world public that Albanian terrorists who were killed during the conflict, were actually Albanian civilians. This served as a trigger for bombing and attack initiated by the NATO alliance two months later.


13 of the total 17 countries-members of NATO, took part in the attack of the Republic of Yugoslavia. Those were the USA, Canada, Germany, Great Britain, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Turkey, Norweigan, and Denmark. Greece refused to participate due to political reasons, and the Island didn’t have warplanes. NATO used airspace of the neighboring countries of Serbia and Montenegro- Hungary, Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania and the Muslim federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Army of Yugoslavia was 30 years behind NATO regarding military technology.

During the aggression, every inhabited place in Kosovo and Metohija was bombed, and in the rest of Serbia, the cities that suffered horrendous attacks were Aleksinac (5 April), Novi Sad (22 April and 6 May), Nis (7 May), Valjevo (2 May), Belgrade (2 April and 22 April). While being the target of continuous bombing by NATO, the Army of Yugoslavia and the Serbian police had to fight against Albanian terrorists, especially in the border areas- Djakovica, Pec, Prizren.

They were in a disadvantaged position compared to Albanian terrorists who had assistance from the Army of the Republic of Albania, the British special units SAS and the NATO aviation. One of the greatest battles of that period was, undoubtedly, the Battle of Koshare, from 9 April and 10 June, 1999 which ended with the victory of the Army of Yugoslavia although the enemy was three times stronger.  The other, but not less important battle, was fought at the mountain Pastrik near the city of Prizren, where Albanian terrorists and their assistants were defeated.

During its aggression, NATO used depleted uranium which has left long term consequences in the whole region. The consequences are still felt, especially in Kosovo and Metohija.

The damage made by the bombing is inconceivable and the statistics show that:

12.500 people were injured
3.500 people were killed
88 children were killed
44 bridges were destroyed
200 churches were demolished
50,000 houses were destroyed
300,000 of Serbs were expelled
31,000 missiles were thrown
45 energy facilities were destroyed
80 industry facilities were destroyed


In the table below, you have a list of all the crimes against Serbs that we have in our archives and database. If you notice that something is missing, feel free to add. If you are not sure how it should look like, take a look how some existing articles on the crimes are written, and in accordance with these principles, please send us such an article via our Contact Us page.


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Before we begin the story of crimes and criminals, we will first explain some terms that will often be used on our site or in the material that we present to the public.

Crime is a work that is. an act which violates the criminal law The totality of all crimes committed in a given time in a territory called a crime.

Ethnic cleansing is the extermination of the minority by the majority, through imprisonment, persecution and murder, in order to achieve ethnic homogeneity in a particular territory. Such procedures and actions are planned and organized, not random.

Massacre (fr. Massacre, sr. Massacre, murder, massacre, bloodshed) is the act of killing a large number of people indiscriminately and cruelly. There are definitions that entered the assumption that the victims of the massacre of helpless that they are not able to prevent the massacre, for example. old men, women, children or unarmed men. The massacre was to speak, and when the victims are animals, not just humans.

Genocide (gr. Genos, gender, nation, and lat. Accidere, kill), an international crime of intentional total or partial destruction of national, ethnic, racial and religious groups. It belongs to the most serious crimes against humanity (according to the Nuremberg judgment). The term Genocide was adopted at the First Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations (1946). In contrast to the example. Ethnic cleansing, where the goal is to be given territory "cleansed" of certain groups of people (the emphasis is on expulsion, although it is usually represented and physical destruction), with the aim of genocide biological extinction or annihilation.

Pogrom (rus. Pogrom - destruction, devastation) is a form of mass violence. Today, this term implies persecution and other ethnic, religious and racial groups.

The Holocaust (gr. Olokauston: completely burned, prefix school and kauston, burned) is the name for a systematic state persecution and genocide of the different ethnic, religious and (or) political groups of people during World War II by Nazi German authorities and their associates. In early examples of the Holocaust include the Kristallnacht pogrom in (1938) and the euthanasia program (1939).

Srbosjek the blade that. knife-attached to the solid glove leather. Has been designed for quick slaughter of Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia. It is most used item in the Ustasha concentration camps.

Serb-basher is ustaška device used for rapid killing of Serbs in mass killings during World War II. The tools consisted of a wooden handle with a metal ball attached notched. His promotion Serb-basher suffered in January 1942 massacres around Banja Luka.

Chauvinism (named after the Napoleonic soldier Nicolas Chauvin) is an extreme form of nationalism is, where there is a disturbance of consciousness ο value of their own nation, tradition and culture, which creates negative stereotypes ο other, especially neighboring nations, associated with hatred, contempt, intolerance and aggression toward members of other nations.