On this day 27 years ago, the Battle of Kosare began

In the area of the Kosare border post, on this day – April 9, 1999, the battle for the defense of the state border of Yugoslavia began. In the fighting, which lasted 67 days, 108 members of the Yugoslav Army were killed, with an average age of 25. In one of the toughest battles during the armed conflict that year, Yugoslav soldiers stopped a ground invasion by the Albanian army and the KLA, which had NATO support.

The border zone in the Kosare area, near the Prokletije mountains, was of key importance as a possible corridor for a ground incursion by the KLA from the territory of Albania into Kosovo.

The attack began early in the morning on April 9, 1999, on Good Friday, with heavy artillery fire from the direction of Albania, followed by a ground assault by members of the KLA, as well as active units of the Albanian army.

In the first two days, just over 130 border guards from the Kosare post, from the 53rd Border Battalion of the Yugoslav Army, faced a numerically superior enemy.

A platoon of Military Police soon arrived to assist the border guards, but the attack was fierce and KLA forces managed to seize the positions of Rasa Kosares and Maja Glava, points from which all movement toward the border line could be controlled, and they also captured the border post building. However, they failed to break through this section of the border.

With the arrival of members of the 125th Motorized Brigade, a defensive line was established that prevented further enemy advance. In the following days, the army attempted to retake Rasa Kosares and Maja Glava, joined by members of the 72nd Special Brigade and the 63rd Parachute Brigade.

The heaviest fighting at Kosare took place during the first three days, and the border guards, mostly conscripts performing mandatory military service, faced an enemy ten times stronger.

According to the testimony of Dusko Sljivancanin, president of the Association of Veterans of the 53rd Border Battalion and the wartime commander of that unit, the fiercest fighting occurred on April 11, 1999, on Orthodox Easter. On that day alone, eight members of the 53rd Border Battalion gave their lives for their country.

At the peak of the fighting, the Yugoslav Army had around 1,200 soldiers, while the KLA, with volunteers and Albanian units, had between 5,000 and 6,000.

The goal of the KLA, NATO, and the Albanian army was to penetrate deeper and force the Yugoslav Army forces, which had until then been camouflaged and well concealed, into open combat where the technological advantage of NATO aviation would come into play. They nevertheless managed to capture only about four kilometers of FR Yugoslavia’s territory in width and several hundred to 1,000 meters in depth.

The fighting at Kosare lasted until June 14, 1999, when the Yugoslav Army withdrew from Kosovo following the Kumanovo Agreement.

The battle on the Yugoslav–Albanian border lasted 67 days and claimed the lives of 108 soldiers, non-commissioned officers, officers, reservists, and volunteers.