Mališevo offensive

The Mališevo offensive, also known as the siege of Mališevo was a large-scale offensive conducted by the Yugoslav forces in the town of Mališevo on 29 July 1998 during the Kosovo War. The offensive had been ordered by Slobodan Milošević, the Serbian President at the time. The town was a KLA stronghold for a long time, and under their control, the local Serbian Population was being oppressed.^[5]

Mališevo offensive
Part of the Kosovo War
Date 29 July 1998 Location Mališevo, FR Yugoslavia Result Yugoslav victory The KLA stronghold of Mališevo falls into the hands of Yugoslav forces Ethnic Albanian population flees from the town Mališevo is entirely destroyed by the Serbian Police
Belligerents
FR Yugoslavia	Kosovo Liberation Army
Commanders and leaders
Slobodan Milošević Nebojša Pavković Janko Lazarević	Ramush Haradinaj
Units involved
Yugoslav Armed Forces  • MUP	Unknown Unknown
Strength
Unknown	Unknown small contingent[1]
Casualties and losses
2 officers killed[2]	Unknown
Over 17 Albanian civilians killed[3] 10 nearby villages are bombarded by the Yugoslav Air Force 10,000 Kosovar Albanians displaced [4]

In 2005, a mass grave was found in the town containing 12 Serb and one Bulgarian civilian.^[5][6][7][8]

Prelude

During the early stages of the Kosovo War, Mališevo was a major stronghold for the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) who used it as a base for communication across central Kosovo. It was heavily protected and no firefights occurred prior to the Yugoslav offensive. On 29 July 1998, Yugoslav Forces under command of President Slobodan Milošević launched an offensive to re-take the town from the KLA and secure additional military victories.^[9][10]

The operation

On 29 July, Serbian forces encircled the town and started heavy shelling. After some fighting, Serbian police entered the town and started setting houses and other infrastructure on fire. Meanwhile, the KLA was forced to withdraw further. After additional fighting, the KLA withdrew completely due to constant shelling and encirclement.^[7][9][10] By nighttime, the KLA had entirely pulled out from the area. Milošević stated that aid would be sent to fix the town's infrastructure but did not allow any foreign media outlets to come to the scene and take videos for documentation. During the fights, the Albanian population of the village had mostly fled; afterward, the town was burned and completely destroyed.^[9][10]

Aftermath

After the town fell, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) requested to send aid.^[9][10] Milosevic claimed that refugees who fled Mališevo could return safely, but the townspeople had no homes to return to, given that most of the houses were set on fire after the Serbian police crackdown on the Albanian militants.^[11] The chief of UNHCR's Kosovo operation, Thomas Vargas, stated that refugees were hiding out in the mountains: "They're living virtually in the forests on the hillsides, in the mountainside, sleeping under trees, terrified where they are now, but even more terrified to go home. And when they see their villages up in smoke in the distance, it doesn't give them much confidence. They don't have any security to get back home anytime soon."^[9][10] Vargas further added that the refugee situation across the province had become "desperate". Continued fighting between ethnic Albanian refugees and Serbian forces halted plans to send an international aid convoy to the devastated former rebel stronghold. Ten days after the battle ensued, the KLA returned to Mališevo, retaking ten villages around the town and later ambushed Serb policemen in the town.^[11] By late October, the KLA was reported to have rebuilt their own secondary military checkpoint near the town.^[12] By November 11, the KLA had returned its presence in Mališevo.^[11]