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UÇKHistory and Memory

24 March 1999 – 10 June 1999 · 1999

NATO's air campaign (Operation Allied Force)

NATO began air strikes against the FRY on 24 March 1999, without explicit Security Council authorisation, and suspended them on 10 June after 78 days.
Evidence status: Documented. Supported by contemporaneous documents, institutional reports or independent studies that corroborate one another.The 1998–1999 warInternational intervention
Two side-by-side black-and-white aerial views of an airfield installation labelled 'pre strike' and 'post strike'.
Pre-strike and post-strike assessment photograph of the Pristina military airfield, used by Maj. Gen. Charles F. Wald during a Pentagon press briefing on NATO Operation Allied Force on 16 April 1999.Photo: U.S. Department of Defense · 1999-04-16 · Domen publik (Public domain)

The strikes began after Holbrooke announced on 23 March that his final talks with Milošević had failed [1] [2]. According to NATO, more than 38,000 sorties were flown, 10,484 of them strike sorties [3]. The legality debate and the civilian casualties of the bombing are covered on the NATO page and in the related research article.

Photographs

Fighter jet on the runway with afterburner flame during take-off.
A U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon takes off from Aviano Air Base for an air strike mission in support of NATO Operation Allied Force, 24 March 1999.Photo: Senior Airman Jeffrey Allen, U.S. Air Force · 1999-03-24 · Domen publik (Public domain)
Black angular aircraft on the runway at dusk, mountains in the background.
A U.S. Air Force F-117 Nighthawk taxis out for take-off from Aviano Air Base for an air strike mission of Operation Allied Force, 24 March 1999.Photo: United States Air Force · 1999-03-24 · Domen publik (Public domain)
White missile on a transport trailer in front of a large bomber.
A U.S. Air Force airman transports an AGM-86C cruise missile to a waiting B-52H Stratofortress at RAF Fairford, 30 March 1999, in preparation for an Operation Allied Force mission.Photo: Staff Sgt. Jim Howard, U.S. Air Force · 1999-03-30 · Domen publik (Public domain)
Grey attack aircraft with its light on, on a wet taxiway.
An A-10 Thunderbolt II taxis through the rain at Aviano Air Base before taking off on a mission against targets in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, 7 April 1999.Photo: Senior Airman Jeffrey Allen, U.S. Air Force · 1999-04-07 · Domen publik (Public domain)
Two black-and-white aerial photos of a neighbourhood: intact buildings above, damaged buildings marked with arrows below.
Aerial 'before and after' assessment photographs of destroyed buildings in Gjakova, used by the U.S. Department of Defense at a press briefing, April 1999.Photo: DoD photo · 1999-04-26 · Domen publik (Public domain)
Black-and-white aerial view of a village with a plume of smoke rising from a building.
Assessment photograph of a burning building in the Malisheva area, Kosovo, used by Maj. Gen. Charles F. Wald during a Pentagon press briefing on NATO Operation Allied Force on 13 April 1999.Photo: NATO · 1999-04-13 · Domen publik (Public domain)
Black-and-white aerial view of houses and yards captioned 'Tank deployment in Kosovo'.
Assessment photograph of a tank deployment in Kosovo, used by Maj. Gen. Charles F. Wald during a Pentagon press briefing on NATO Operation Allied Force on 17 May 1999.Photo: U.S. Department of Defense · 1999-05-17 · Domen publik (Public domain)
Black-and-white aerial view of a site with strike marks, with a yellow caption.
Post-strike assessment photograph of the destroyed radar facility in Pristina, used by Maj. Gen. Charles F. Wald during a Pentagon press briefing on NATO Operation Allied Force on 17 April 1999.Photo: U.S. Department of Defense · 1999-04-17 · Domen publik (Public domain)
Black-and-white aerial view of a depot with roads and tanks, captioned 'Pristina Fuel Depot'.
Post-strike assessment photograph of the Pristina fuel depot, used by Maj. Gen. Charles F. Wald during a Pentagon press briefing on NATO Operation Allied Force on 10 April 1999.Photo: U.S. Department of Defense · 1999-04-10 · Domen publik (Public domain)
A column of demonstrators with placards walks down a city street.
Demonstration against the war in Kosovo in Freiburg im Breisgau, 8 May 1999; photograph by Marlis Decker from the Freiburg State Archive.Photo: Marlis Decker · 1999-05-08 · CC BY 4.0
Black-and-white aerial view of a large factory complex with a damaged roof and an identifying caption.
Post-strike assessment photograph of the Crvena Zastava arms and motor-vehicle plant in Kragujevac, Serbia, shown by Maj. Gen. Charles F. Wald at the Pentagon press briefing on Operation Allied Force on 14 April 1999.Photo: U.S. Department of Defense · 1999-04-14 · Domen publik (Public domain)
Black-and-white aerial view of a struck bridge over a river, with an identifying caption.
Post-strike assessment photograph of the Kruševac highway bridge over the West Morava, shown at the Pentagon press briefing on Operation Allied Force on 16 April 1999.Photo: U.S. Department of Defense · 1999-04-16 · Domen publik (Public domain)
Two black-and-white aerial images side by side with yellow arrows marking the buildings hit.
Pre-strike and post-strike aerial imagery of the Pristina explosives storage facility, presented by Secretary Cohen and Gen. Shelton on 11 April 1999.Photo: U.S. Department of Defense · 1999-04-11 · Domen publik (Public domain)
Black-and-white aerial image of a city district with a stadium and damaged buildings.
Bomb damage assessment photograph of the Pristina military police facility, presented by the US Department of Defense on 11 April 1999.Photo: U.S. Department of Defense · 1999-04-11 · Domen publik (Public domain)
A grey attack aircraft with two engines above the fuselage flying over farmland.
A US Air Force A-10A of the 81st Fighter Squadron in flight during an Operation Allied Force combat mission, 22 April 1999.Photo: U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Greg L. Davis · 1999-04-22 · Domen publik (Public domain)
A bright flash and smoke above a ship's deck at night.
A Tomahawk cruise missile launches from the cruiser USS Philippine Sea towards a target in Kosovo on 25 March 1999.Photo: Petty Officer 3rd Class Renso Amariz, U.S. Navy · 1999-03-25 · Domen publik (Public domain)
A helmeted, masked pilot in a bomber cockpit with the instrument panel ahead.
The pilot of a US Air Force B-52H scans the horizon on a combat mission towards a target in Kosovo on 26 May 1999.Photo: Senior Airman Greg L. Davis, U.S. Air Force · 1999-05-26 · Domen publik (Public domain)
Civilian and military officials seated around a conference table.
NATO Secretary General Javier Solana meets US Secretary of Defense William Cohen at the Pentagon on 15 March 1999. They discussed NATO's reaction should Yugoslavia refuse to sign the peace agreement worked out in Rambouillet.Photo: Robert D. Ward · 1999-03-15 · Domen publik (Public domain)
A helmeted soldier crouching over scorched ground laying a wire.
A US Air Force explosive ordnance disposal airman prepares an unexploded BLU-97 bomblet for demolition in a field outside Urosevac (Ferizaj) on 10 August 1999.Photo: Spc. Christina Ann Horne, U.S. Army · 1999-08-10 · Domen publik (Public domain)

Sources

  1. [1]Tribunali Penal Ndërkombëtar për ish-Jugosllavinë (ICTY). Prosecutor v. Milutinović et al., Judgement, Volume 1 of 4. 2009-02-26. IT-05-87-T. https://www.icty.org/x/cases/milutinovic/tjug/en/jud090226-e1of4.pdf. Accessed 2026-09-16. — para. 398
  2. [2]Fred Abrahams, Benjamin Ward. Under Orders: War Crimes in Kosovo. 2001-10-26. https://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/kosovo/. Accessed 2026-09-16.
  3. [3]NATO. Kosovo Air Campaign (March–June 1999): Operation Allied Force. 2024-10-21. https://www.nato.int/en/what-we-do/operations-and-missions/kosovo-air-campaign-march-june-1999. Accessed 2026-09-16.
  4. [4]Ivo H. Daalder, Michael E. O’Hanlon. Winning Ugly: NATO's War to Save Kosovo. Brookings Institution Press, 2001-10-01. https://www.brookings.edu/books/winning-ugly/. Accessed 2026-09-16.

Editorial status: Awaiting verificationDrafted from the cited sources; not yet fully reviewed by the editors.

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