Kosovo War |
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Part of the Yugoslav Wars[1] |
Clockwise from top-left: Yugoslav general staff headquarters damaged by NATO air strikes; a Zastava Koral buried under rubble caused by NATO air strikes; memorial to local KLA commanders; a USAF F-15E taking off from Aviano Air Base |
Date | February 1998 – 11 June 1999
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Location | |
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Result |
Kumanovo Treaty
- Yugoslav forces pull out of Kosovo
- United Nations Resolution 1244[4]
- Return of Albanian refugees
- Expulsion of over half of the Serb and other non-Albanian civilians[lower-alpha 1]
- KLA veterans join the UÇPMB, starting the Preševo insurgency
- Bulldozer Revolution in 2000
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Territorial changes |
No legal changes to Yugoslav borders according to the Resolution 1244, but effective political and economic separation of Kosovo from Yugoslavia due to being placed under UN administration |
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Belligerents |
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KLA
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Yugoslavia |
Commanders and leaders |
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Adem Jashari †
Hashim Thaçi
Bilall Syla
Hamëz Jashari †
Sylejman Selimi
Ramush Haradinaj
Agim Çeku
Wesley Clark
Kudusi Lama [11] |
Slobodan Milošević
Dragoljub Ojdanić
Nebojša Pavković
Vlastimir Đorđević[12]
Vladimir Lazarević[13] Sreten Lukić |
Strength |
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17,000–20,000 KLA insurgents[14]
cca. 80 aircraft (Operation Eagle Eye)[15] 1,031 aircraft (Operation Allied Force)[16] 30+ warships and submarines[17] |
85,000 soldiers[18] (including 40,000 in and around Kosovo)[17] 20,000 policemen 100 SAM sites[17] 1,400 artillery pieces (Both ground & air defence)[17] 240 aircraft [17] 2,032 armoured vehicles & tanks[17]
Serbian paramilitary units (Šakali, Škorpioni), unknown number
Russian volunteers, unknown number [19][20] |
Casualties and losses |
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1,500 insurgents killed (per the KLA)[21] 2,131 insurgents killed (per the HLC)[22]
2 killed (non-combat) and 3 captured[23][24]
2 aircraft shot down and 3 damaged[25][26][27][28] Two AH-64 Apaches and an AV-8B Harrier crashed (non-combat)[29]
47 UAVs shot down[30]
Possible unknown number of DGSE officers killed[31] |
Caused by KLA: 624 Yugoslav soldiers and Serbian policemen killed[32]
Caused by NATO: 1,008–1,200 killed[lower-alpha 2] 14 tanks,[37] 18 APCs, 20 artillery pieces and 121 aircraft and helicopters destroyed[39]
Caused by KLA and NATO: 1,084 killed (per the HLC)[22] |
8,676 Kosovar Albanian civilians killed or missing[22]
90% of Kosovar Albanians displaced during the war[40] (848,000–863,000 expelled from Kosovo,[41][42][43] 590,000 Kosovar Albanians displaced within Kosovo)[40]
1,641[22]–2,500[44] Serb and other non-Albanian civilians killed or missing (445 Roma and others)[22]
230,000 Kosovo Serbs, Romani and other non-Albanian civilians displaced[45]
/ Civilian deaths caused by NATO bombing: 489–528 (per Human Rights Watch)[46] or 453–2,500 (per the HLC and Tanjug);[22][44] also includes 3 Chinese journalists killed
13,548 civilians and fighters dead overall (Albanians, Serbs, Bosniaks, Roma)[47] |