1998: from Drenica to open war

Likoshan, Qirez and Prekaz

On 28 February 1998, after an armed clash in which Serbian police officers were killed, Serbian police forces entered the Drenica villages of Likoshan and Qirez. Many Albanians were killed in these operations; Human Rights Watch documented killings of people who were taking no part in the fighting.[1][2]

On 5 March 1998, Serbian special police units with heavy weapons attacked the Jashari family compound in Prekaz. In the three-day assault, Adem Jashari was killed together with dozens of members of his family and of related families, including women, children and the elderly. Records from the time put the number killed at about 58.[1][2]

The attack on Prekaz was a turning point. For many Albanians, Adem Jashari and his family became a symbol of sacrifice and resistance, and many young people joined the KLA or local defence structures. Internationally, events in Drenica made it impossible to treat Kosovo as a purely internal Yugoslav matter.[2][3]

The first international response

The Contact Group — the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and Russia — met in March 1998 and demanded an end to the violence. On 31 March the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1160, which imposed an arms embargo on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, including Kosovo, and condemned both the excessive use of force by Serbian police against civilians and the acts of terrorism it attributed to the KLA.[4][5]

The resolution's language reflected the attitudes of the time: in February 1998 the US envoy Robert Gelbard had publicly described the KLA as a terrorist group. Over the course of the year, however, Western diplomats opened direct contacts with its representatives, including Richard Holbrooke's meeting with KLA members in Junik in June. The context of these labels is analysed in the related article.[2][5]

The war spreads

In the spring and early summer of 1998 the KLA expanded rapidly in Drenica, Dukagjin and the border areas with Albania. Many villages formed self-defence units, linked in varying ways to the central structures. Organization remained uneven: the general staff, regional commands and local units did not always act in full coordination.[3][2]

In July 1998 the KLA briefly took control of Rahovec, but Serbian forces retook the town. The fighting for Rahovec exposed the limits of a strategy of holding territory and preceded a large offensive by Serbian and Yugoslav forces.[2]

In this period, according to findings of the ICTY, individual KLA members detained and mistreated people at Llapushnik and Jabllanicë. In Limaj et al., Haradin Bala was convicted, while Fatmir Limaj and Isak Musliu were acquitted. In Haradinaj et al., Lahi Brahimaj was convicted of cruel treatment and torture, while Ramush Haradinaj and Idriz Balaj were acquitted. These judgments concern individuals and specific charges, not the KLA as a whole.[6][7]

The summer offensive and mass displacement

From late July to September 1998, Serbian police and Yugoslav Army units conducted a large-scale offensive against areas under KLA influence. The operations were accompanied by the burning of villages, destruction of property and killings of civilians. International humanitarian organizations estimated that hundreds of thousands of people were displaced; many spent weeks in forests and mountains as winter approached.[2][1]

On 23 September the Security Council adopted Resolution 1199, demanding a ceasefire, the withdrawal of units used for civilian repression, and unimpeded access for humanitarian organizations. Three days later, on 26 September 1998, in Abri e Epërme in Drenica, units of the Serbian security forces killed members of the Deliaj family, among them women, children and the elderly. Human Rights Watch documented this massacre in a dedicated report.[8][9]

The October agreement and the OSCE verifiers

Under the threat of NATO air strikes, Richard Holbrooke and Slobodan Milošević reached an agreement on 13 October 1998 to reduce Serbian forces in Kosovo and deploy a verification mission. The OSCE Kosovo Verification Mission, with up to 2,000 unarmed verifiers and headed by William Walker, was established by decision of the OSCE Permanent Council, and the Security Council endorsed it in Resolution 1203.[10][11][12]

The KLA was not a party to the agreement. It moved back into positions vacated by Serbian forces, and clashes and incidents multiplied in November and December. OSCE reports recorded violations by both sides. The fragile ceasefire was already collapsing when, in mid-January 1999, events at Reçak changed the course of diplomacy.[12][2]