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LAST UPDATE | 29 Sep 2023
THE UNITED STATES has called on Belgrade to pull its forces back from the border with Kosovo after detecting what it called an unprecedented Serbian military build-up.
Serbia had deployed sophisticated tanks and artillery on the frontier after deadly clashes erupted at a monastery in northern Kosovo last week, the White House warned.
The violence in which a Kosovo policeman and three Serb gunmen were killed marked one of the gravest escalations for years in Kosovo, a former Serbian breakaway province.
“We are monitoring a large Serbian military deployment along the border with Kosovo,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
“That includes an unprecedented staging of advanced Serbian artillery, tanks, mechanized infantry units. We believe that this is a very destabilizing development.”
He added: “We are calling on Serbia to withdraw those forces from the border.”
The build up had happened within the last week but its purpose was not yet clear, Kirby said.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had telephoned Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic to urge “immediate deescalation and a return to dialogue,” he added.
And National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan spoke to Kosovo’s prime minister.
Serbia’s leader Vucic did not directly deny there had been a recent build-up but rejected claims that his country’s forces were on alert.
“I have denied untruths where they talk about the highest level of combat readiness of our forces, because I simply did not sign that and it is not accurate,” Vucic told reporters.
“We don’t even have half the troops we had two or three months ago.”
Serbia said on Wednesday that the defense minister and head of the armed forces had gone to visit a “deployment zone” but gave no further details.
The clashes on Sunday began when heavily armed Serb gunmen ambushed a patrol a few miles (kilometres) from the Serbian border, killing a Kosovo police officer.
Several dozen assailants then barricaded themselves at an Orthodox monastery, sparking an hour-long firefight in which three gunmen were killed and three were arrested.
Kosovo’s government has accused Belgrade of backing the entire operation, while a member of a major Kosovo Serb political party admitted to leading the gunmen, his lawyer said today.
Kirby said the attack had a “very high level of sophistication”, involving around 20 vehicles, “military-grade” weapons, equipment and training.
“It’s worrisome. It doesn’t look like just a bunch of guys who got together to do this,” he said.
NATO would be “increasing its presence” of its peacekeeping force known as KFOR following the attack, Kirby added.
In Brussels, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg confirmed that the US-led alliance was ready to boost the force to deal with the situation.
Kosovo broke away from Serbia in a bloody war in 1998-9 and declared independence in 2008 – a status Belgrade and Moscow have refused to recognise.
It has long seen strained relations between its ethnic Albianian majority and Serb minority, which have escalated in recent months in northern Kosovo.
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Kosovo unilaterally declared independence . The US said that is OK.
Various regions in Ukraine declared independence. The US said that is not OK!
@Nestor: Aw poor you, utterly clueless about Ukraine.
@Nestor: russia used the presence of a minority of the populations in areas of Ukraine to create “separatist” movements.
The majority of the populations of Kosovo were subject to genocide by Serbia.
Do you think there just might be a difference.
They do have one thing in common – russia.
Serbia has long been backed by russia.
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: exactly what Germany did in the 30’s. Stir up tensions and hatred in areas of Czechoslovakia with German minorities and use it as a pretext to ride to their assistance. Once done, next step to take over the entire country. Didn’t end well for them but I’m not sure the will to confront Russia exists in today’s fractured world?
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere:
That is incorrect.
The Russians did not create a separatist movement in Crimea.The vast majority of people in Crimea want to be independent.
@Nestor: Independent of russia, yes.
The people of Crimea voted for independence from russia.
And then voted for integration with Ukraine.
Then russia invaded.
russia created “separatist” movements in Luhansk and Donetsk.
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere:
No.
The people of Crimea voted for independence from Ukraine.
try a more erudite response than that, Ian!
War, huh, what is it good for?
Absolutely nothing.
@KTH: Say it again.
@James Carroll: War is good for the weapons producers. It is no wonder that their lobbyists are so active in Washington and Brussels. The one thing that unites war-mongering countries is the amount they profit from selling death.
@James Carroll:
War, huh, what is it good for?
Absolutely nothing!
:)
@KTH: Actually many wars are right . Standing up and fighting for what’s right is the right thing to do even if their is a possibility that you may fail . Evil will only prevail when good men do nothing .
@KTH: Good for the rich corporations
@Jack Moss: absolute rubbish, wars end in the way they should have been prevented in the first place, with people sitting around a table in dialogue.
@James Brohan: What about the lobbyists in Beijing and Moscow, or is it only Western weapons manufacturers that are bad?
@KTH: It’s good for defending against a tyrannical invader. An invader that want to subjugate people.
Don’t forget that if people do not stand up against such an invader then there would be no war.
@KTH: For make money?
@Andrew Giles: so if someone invaded your home and threaten to kill your and your family you want to sit around the table and have a discussion about it over a cup of coffee.
@Jack Moss: your the one who tells us every chance you get that the catholics in Northern Ireland were wrong to stand up to loyalist thugs, the b specials and the British army for invading their homes.
@Joe Kelly: The good men where the security forces . Half a million of them went out and risked their lives to stop people from been murdered by terrorist organisations that bomb Shops , Hotels , restaurants , pubs . Just about anywhere innocent people went . 21 bomb disposal officers where killed in NI .
We’re an awful species. No wonder the Environment is working to extradite us from the planet.
@: I don’t agree. The vast majority of people are good and decent and trying their best. Russia’s antics have emboldened others.
@Off The Ball: Youd think Russia were the first country to ever invade another country. The US have invaded a lot more countries. But its OK when they do it seems, the self appointment democratic leaders of the free world.
That makes it is then, does it
@Graham Light: Mother Nature created us . We are as much a part of Mother Nature as any other living thing in the world . Mother Nature is destroying itself .
@Jack Moss: ‘Mother’ nature, or just simple evolutionary processes does not care.
It does not care about us.
Evolution will continue until this planet is no longer habitable.
Ballina hostage taker charged in court.
Polish non national hence the lack of story
@: thank god we have independent media outlets like yourself to keep us all informed about what really matters (to you).
US poking their nose in
@Ian McDonald: Serbs feeling emboldened
@Ian McDonald: there is a Muslim enclave in the balkans that exists because of US intervention after their neighbours tried to ethnically cleanse them out of existence. Not all US interventionist is bad.
@Mic JHintl: There is a Muslim enclave in the Middle East that is being squeezed out of existence by their neighbours who are trying to ethnically cleanse them. With much help from the US.
@Ian McDonald: Jaysus!! Get real
@Corey Dalton: as I say not all US intervention is bad which suggests that its not all good either. To blame the US alone for the Palestinian question is a stretch at best.The Palestinians in Syria are not getting it easy either from Asad and that is nothing to do with the US.
@Corey Dalton: You avoided the comment, Bosnia, a Muslim country is safe because of the US, what do you have to say specifically about Bosnia?
US: We believe that this is a very destabilising development.
Me: I believe that wherever the US gets involved, it’s a very destabilising development.
@Corey Dalton: yeah it definitely destabilised by joining in WW1 and WW2
@Off The Ball: WW1 led to WW2 which led to the creation of Israel not to mention the Berlin Wall..
@Corey Dalton: You don’t see all the wars that have been prevented because of US military presents . The US military and NATO is an deterrent . It prevents wars from happening .
@Corey Dalton: don’t forget Srebrenica
@Corey Dalton: what do you think should be done?
@Corey Dalton: That is a vey idiotic point of view.
Are you really so incapable of telling right from wrong that you haev to engage is some form of tribalism.
If the US tribe is involved then BAD.
If anyone else does it then GOOD.
You need to cop onto yourself son.
yanks once again sticking their nose in where its not wanted. Imagine what the world would be like the last 40 years or more if they werent helping to turn countries and regions upside down for their own gains……but sure according to some on here they can do no wrong along with great folk such as israel and saudi arabia. Just dont mention the R word or they will call ya racist and far right for daring to question hyprocisy from the virtue signalling brigades
@Tom Newell: Plenty of people here can see that some interventions by the US are justified, some are not. Stopping Russia recreating its empire is a good intervention. Helping Israel destroy Palestine is not.
@Mike smith: “Interventions” or “special operations”?
@Tom Newell: Actually the world has never been a more peaceful place in history since the US became the worlds military power after WW2 . We live in the Information Age . The world is not becoming more violent we are just becoming more aware of what’s going on in the world .
@Jack Moss: tell that to the entire left of latin America, slaughtered by the US for their political beliefs!
@David: I’m Latino, born and raised, you are wrong. Panama, a poor country in 1989 was controlled by Noriega, a drug lord dictator, the US invaded Panama, deposed Noriega, and now Panama is one of the richest and most modern countries in Latin America, they even get full control of the Panama canal. The Panamanians thanks the US for this. Colombia has a lot to thank the US in their war of drugs. Venezuelans are desperately asking the US to do something about Maduro and its dictatorship, and before you make unfounded comments, I am Venezuelan-Irish, also partly colombian, with family in those countries, not rich families, blue collar working class family
@Tom Newell: Stop generalising and discuss the actual issue the report is about. What is your opinion on this? Do you think Serbia should be permitted back into Kosovo after what they did to the Muslim population there?
@Mike smith: Thank you for this piece of plain common sense.
Why there are some that believe that no matter what the US does it is bad, and therefore whatever any other country that is in opposition to the US does is good, is beyond me.
Particularly when they can clearly see for themselves the callous brutality of russia each and every day.
And yet they twist themselves into hoops of illogical mind-bending unreason to try to justify what is clearly, so clearly, wrong.
The US can do all the monitoring it wants. It did it in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and now Ukraine trying to dictate their foreign policy for their own interests. Serbians have a long memory for what the US did to their country and bombed it and their civilians into smoothies. All we’re seeing now is the demise of the US as a social, political and cultural force who after Midnight tomorrow cannot pay its own military. The US needs to realise they are never to be taken seriously again because after trying to use Ukraine to weaken Russia, all we see is a superior Russia defeat a corrupt regime in Kiev. If the Hollywood script writers wrote this, they’d have been sacked for writing fantasy instead of fiction. Serbia won’t be dictated to anymore by a broken US.
@Caoimín Ó Muircheartaigh: Serbia invaded its neighbours, you soft brained fool.
@Mike: don’t bother even trying. Don’t be fooled by his name – he’s no more Irish than Putin himself. Isn’t that right Ivan???
@Mike: a fool boy he is
@Off The Ball: in fact the parallels between this conflict and Ukraine and Russia are unnervingly similar. Serbs clearly following the Putin strategy. as for ‘superior’ Russia and corrupt Kiev, even Putins supporters acknowledge the intrinsically corrupt nature of the Russian regime (and are happy to exploit it for their own ends). Indeed, corruption is endemic there, from top to bottom. As it is in so many places, only worse.
@Caoimín Ó Muircheartaigh: the US and NATO should have let all the Kosovan Albanians be “cleansed”?
@Richard W: That is what russia, and its allies, have been doing for centuries.
Can the Americans win a war with Russia, China and Serbia all at the same time?
@Nestor: I believe that the US maintains armed forces capable of fighting against 2 major power simultaneously.
But add Serbia into the mix…
Maybe that would break the US.
Maybe Poland or Croatia would need to be added to restore that supremacy.
If Serbia invades it can kiss goodbye to joint the EU.
@Off The Ball: They won’t be missing out on a lot there. At least they’ll be able to make their own decisions about what happens in the country.
@: are you serious?….. like making their own decisions to cleanse Srebrenica?!
@: The Serbs should not be allowed to join.
And Hungary should be kicked out of both the EU and NATO.
Honey Badger is Off the ball tonight. You bots always resort to insults and name calling. It’s why with your many publications to follow, and their busy comments section, and getting paid by the comment, you never give any thought to what you’re actually saying. As for the script, you daren’t leave it. Don’t knock off the lights as Brendan Brien is logging in very soon.
You will never know Ireland and the Irish, because we don’t talk like you, don’t think like you and we don’t sell ourselves like Tinder scammers trying to convince others you have something to sell. Did you dream of having this bot job as a kid? That’s why you resort to name calling – bitterness.
@Kerry Mink Yrs that NATO heavy armour is doing so well. German Leopards have been destroyed in numbers, let’s see how the Abrams tanks get on with their gas turbine engines.
@Corey Dalton: NATO armour is doing very well.
I believe that 5 Leopard II were destroyed, and 10 damaged, along with 1 Challenger 2 destroyed.
The 10 damaged Leopards are off being repaired.
But it is believed that all crews survived, unlike with russian armour where crew survivability is poor to say the least.
That is the difference between the philosophies of russia and the West.
West: Equipment can be replaced, lives cannot
russia: your life is worthless, even to the state
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: Proof of your sources please?
@: Why?
Do you have any information that I am incorrect?
Where do you get it?
Belligerent old men sending young men in to battle to fight their wars for them. Cowardly. At least in the old days, leaders used to ride into battle with their soldiers like William Wallace etc.
Serbia looking to start another war then? World War I wasn’t enough for them? The Yugoslavian war wasn’t enough for them? I guess NATO will just have to make them come to heal again like last time.
@Gerard McAuliffe: Well pointed out, unfortunately, a lot of people don’t know their history, it was a Serbian man who triggered WWI, it was Serbia and it’s backing by Russia that made WWI what it was. To be fair, it is still unclear wether Gavrilo Princip acted alone or as an emissary of Serbia.
@J Ven: Rich Oligarchs started ww1 and they will start ww3
No country should take a chance this time. Bring in a major “show” of the West heavy armour immediately. Otherwise this will be a “second front” to the Ukrainian war. Dissolving resources for Ukrainian support.
Vlad the child killers lackeys throwing there toys out of thier pram , it’s time for the civilised world to show the Serbs some love
@Robert Halvey: and some tough love at that.
@Willie Marty: Robert Halvey: How have you managed to spell “there” wrong twice in the one sentence?
@Eamon: who me?
Serbia associates itself with russia big time.. crush them america
@: that’s the spirit, kil’em all. Spoken like a true yank.
The Serbian government associate themselves with Russia. There are many Serbian citizens who do not share that view and are uncomfortable with where this situation is going. They have zero faith in their political system because of the amount of corruption.
Don’t pay for there war crimes last time,
Stop them now
How come the border between the two countries isn’t solid like the rest around them?
I notice that vlad the child killers lackeys are out on thier social media this mo
The great big USA SHOULD GO AND RUN ITS SELF SORT OUT TERE OWN SHTT AND THEN THEY MIGHT NOT owe China so much money
have your say