Operation Eagle Eye | |||||||
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Part of the Kosovo Verification Mission and Kosovo War | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
FR Yugoslavia | |||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Slobodan Milošević | / Michael E. Short [2] | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
Unknown | 1,400 Ground observers cca 80 Aircraft |
Operation Eagle Eye (Serbian: Operacija Orlovo oko) was the result of the NATO-Kosovo Verification Mission agreement which was signed in Belgrade on 15 October 1998, under which the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia agrees to establish an air surveillance system consisting of NATO non-combatant reconnaissance aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles.
When a NATO "activation order" was given and dated 30 October 1998, it marked the official launch of the high-tech verification mission. [3] [4] The aim was to monitor the Federal Yugoslav government's compliance with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1199, and in particular the withdrawal of armed forces from Kosovo and compliance with the ceasefire. [5] About 80 aircraft took part in Operation Eagle Eye, [6] four of whom are German Tornado fighter planes. [6] The monitors consisted of 1,400 ground observers. [4] The Serbs did not comply with the resolutions and agreements. [7]
As a result of Yugoslav troop activities and other forms of non-compliance, the ground observers withdrew citing "an unacceptable level of risk to the peace support verification mission", which resulted in an end to aerial verification on 24 March 1999. [3]
The background to NATO's intervention is the brutal repression, expulsion and murder of the Albanian population in Kosovo. Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer calls this self-mandate of NATO a "very big exception". [6] The General Secretary, Kofi Annan, acknowledged that "... excessive and indiscriminate use of force by the Serbian security forces and the Yugoslav Army has resulted in numerous civilian casualties and ... the displacement of more than 230,000 people from their homes." These words were incorporated into United Nations Security Council Resolution 1199 passed on 23 September, that demanded a ceasefire in Kosovo, dialogue between the warring parties, the end of action by security forces against civilians, and the safe return of refugees back to Kosovo.
The monitors consisted of 1,400 ground observers, as well as 80 aircraft to patrol the Yugoslav Army. The operation lasted for 5 months and 26 days until it was terminated on 24 March 1999, during which Michael E. Short commanded the operation. Four days before the termination, Yugoslav forces began a massive campaign of repression and expulsions of Kosovar Albanians following the withdrawal of the OSCE Kosovo Verification Mission and the failure of the proposed Rambouillet Agreement. [8] In response to this, NATO intervened with an aerial bombing campaign that began on March 24, justifying it as a "humanitarian war". [9]
When Operation Eagle Eye was created, Serbs did not comply with the terms that quickly. [7] Yugoslav troops began to do activities and other forms of non-compliance which forced all 1,400 ground observers to withdraw form Kosovo and the operation was terminated. [3]
The Kosovo War was an armed conflict in Kosovo that lasted from 28 February 1998 until 11 June 1999. It was fought between the forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, which controlled Kosovo before the war, and the Kosovo Albanian separatist militia known as the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). The conflict ended when the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) intervened by beginning air strikes in March 1999 which resulted in Yugoslav forces withdrawing from Kosovo.
The Rambouillet Agreement, formally the Interim Agreement for Peace and Self-Government in Kosovo, was a proposed peace agreement between the delegation of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Republic of Serbia on the one hand and the delegation of political representatives of the ethnic Albanian majority population of Kosovo on the other. It was drafted by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and named for the Château de Rambouillet, where it was initially proposed in early 1999. Among other things, the accords called for 30,000 NATO peacekeeping troops in Kosovo; an unhindered right of passage for NATO troops on Yugoslav territory; and immunity for NATO and its agents to Yugoslav law. The Kosovo Albanian side signed the agreement on 18 March 1999, however the refusal of the Yugoslav and Serbian side to sign the accords led to the 1999 bombing of Yugoslavia.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) carried out an aerial bombing campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War. The air strikes lasted from 24 March 1999 to 10 June 1999. The bombings continued until an agreement was reached that led to the withdrawal of the Yugoslav Army from Kosovo, and the establishment of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo, a UN peacekeeping mission in Kosovo. The official NATO operation code name was Operation Allied Force whereas the United States called it Operation Noble Anvil ; in Yugoslavia the operation was incorrectly called Merciful Angel, possibly as a result of a misunderstanding or mistranslation.
The United Nations Protection Force was the first United Nations peacekeeping force in Croatia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Yugoslav Wars. The force was formed in February 1992 and its mandate ended in March 1995, with the peacekeeping mission restructuring into three other forces.
Operation Deliberate Force was a sustained air campaign conducted by NATO, in concert with the UNPROFOR ground operations, to undermine the military capability of the Army of Republika Srpska, which had threatened and attacked UN-designated "safe areas" in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Bosnian War with the Srebrenica genocide and Markale massacres, precipitating the intervention. The shelling of the Sarajevo marketplace on 28 August 1995 by the VRS is considered to be the immediate instigating factor behind NATO's decision to launch the operation.
Operation Deny Flight was a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) operation that began on 12 April 1993 as the enforcement of a United Nations (UN) no-fly zone over Bosnia and Herzegovina. The United Nations and NATO later expanded the mission of the operation to include providing close air support for UN troops in Bosnia and carrying out coercive air strikes against targets in Bosnia. Twelve NATO members contributed forces to the operation and, by its end on 20 December 1995, NATO pilots had flown 100,420 sorties.
United Nations Security Council resolution 1244, adopted on 10 June 1999, after recalling resolutions 1160 (1998), 1199 (1998), 1203 (1998) and 1239 (1999), authorised an international civil and military presence in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and established the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). It followed an agreement by Yugoslav President Slobodan Milošević to terms proposed by President of Finland Martti Ahtisaari and former Prime Minister of Russia Viktor Chernomyrdin on 8 June, involving withdrawal of all Yugoslav state forces from Kosovo.
The Insurgency in the Preševo Valley was an approximately two year-long armed conflict between 1999 and 2001, between the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the ethnic Albanian separatists of the Liberation Army of Preševo, Medveđa and Bujanovac (UÇPMB). There were instances during the conflict in which the Yugoslav government requested KFOR support in suppressing UÇPMB attacks since they could only use lightly armed military forces as part of the Kumanovo Treaty that ended the Kosovo War, which created a buffer zone between FR Yugoslavia and Kosovo.
The Military Technical Agreement, also known as the Kumanovo Agreement, signed between the International Security Force (KFOR) and the Governments of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Republic of Serbia, was an accord concluded on 9 June 1999 in Kumanovo, Macedonia. It resulted in the end of the Kosovo War, and established new basic relations between Yugoslavia and the Kosovo Force, which would act to replace units of the Yugoslav Army in Kosovo.
Operation Sky Monitor was a NATO mission to monitor unauthorized flights in the airspace of Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Bosnian War. The operation began in response to United Nations Security Council Resolution 781, which established a ban on the use of military aircraft in Bosnian airspace, and requested the aid of member states in monitoring compliance. Beginning on October 16, 1992, NATO monitored violations of the no-fly zone using E-3 Sentry NAEW aircraft based in Germany, Italy, Greece, and the United Kingdom. The operation documented more than 500 violations of the no-fly zone by April 1993. In response to this high volume of unauthorized flights, the Security Council passed Resolution 816, which authorized NATO to enforce the no-fly zone, and engage violators. In response, NATO deactivated Sky Monitor on April 12, 1993, transferring its forces to the newly established Operation Deny Flight.
The NATO intervention in Bosnia and Herzegovina was a series of actions undertaken by NATO whose stated aim was to establish long-term peace during and after the Bosnian War. NATO's intervention began as largely political and symbolic, but gradually expanded to include large-scale air operations and the deployment of approximately 60,000 soldiers of the Implementation Force.
United Nations Security Council resolution 1160, adopted on 31 March 1998, after noting the situation in Kosovo, the council, acting under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, imposed an arms embargo and economic sanctions on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, hoping to end the use of excessive force by the government.
United Nations Security Council resolution 1199, adopted on 23 September 1998, after recalling Resolution 1160 (1998), the Council demanded that the Albanian and Yugoslav parties in Kosovo end hostilities and observe a ceasefire.
United Nations Security Council resolution 1203, adopted on 24 October 1998, after recalling resolutions 1160 (1998) and 1199 (1998) on Kosovo, the Council demanded that the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia comply with previous Security Council resolutions and co-operate with the NATO and Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) verification missions in Kosovo.
The Battle of Podujevo was fought in the Kosovo War between the Yugoslav Special Anti-Terrorist Unit and KLA insurgents in the village of Llapashtica e Epërme in the municipality of Podujevo. These events started after the death of a policeman who was killed by KLA militants in the area.
The OSCE Kosovo Verification Mission (KVM) was an OSCE mission to verify that the Serbian and Yugoslav forces were complying with the UNSC Resolution 1203 and the Clark-Naumann agreement, to end atrocities in Kosovo, withdraw armed forces from Kosovo, and abide by a ceasefire. The mission was deployed on 25 October 1998, withdrawn in March 1999 and was closed on 9 June 1999.
The Kosovo Diplomatic Observer Mission (KDOM) was a group of independent observers sent to Kosovo during the Kosovo War.
The Clark-Naumann agreement between NATO and FR Yugoslavia (FRY) provided for the partial withdrawal of FRY forces (VJ) and Serbian forces (MUP) from the Autonomous Province of Kosovo, the limitation of new forces, and deployment of OSCE verifiers. NATO and FRY representatives met on 25 October 1998 to discuss steps for full compliance with UNSCR 1199. It was signed by Nikola Šainović, Vice Prime Minister of FRY government.
Joint Operations Command is an organizational unit of the Serbian General Staff which conducts operational command of the Serbian Armed Forces.
The Yugoslav September Offensive marked an escalation in the Kosovo War as Yugoslav forces launched aggressive operations against the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) in September 1998. This offensive came amid growing tensions between Yugoslav government forces and the KLA, which had been steadily gaining strength. The offensive was aimed at weakening the KLA's positions and regain control over the territories of Kosovo.
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