Draft:Attack on Prekaz (1991)

Not to be confused with Attack on Prekaz.

Attack on Prekaz (1991)
Part of the Prelude to the Insurgency in Kosovo (1995–1998)
Date December 30 1991 Location Prekaz , Kosovo Result KLA victory Yugoslav forces are pressured to retreat from Prekaz. Yugoslavia fails to eliminate Adem Jashari and Hamëz Jashari.
Belligerents
Kosovo Liberation Army	SFR Yugoslavia
Commanders and leaders
Adem Jashari Hamëz Jashari	Unknown
Strength
Unknown	Unknown
Casualties and losses
none	3 killed One heavily injured

The Attack on Prekaz (Albanian: sulmi në prekaz, Serbian: напад на преказ) in 1991 was an attack organized by Yugoslavia against the founding members of the KLA , Adem Jashari and Hamëz Jashari.

Prelude

Drenica is a hilly region in central Kosovo inhabited almost exclusively by Kosovo Albanians. Prior to the Kosovo War, the government of Yugoslavia considered it "the hotbed of Albanian terrorism." Jashari was a farmer. In 1991, he participated in an armed uprising against the Yugoslav authorities in Kosovo. During this period, a Kosovo Albanian irredentist organization that came to be known as the Kosovo Liberation Army first emerged.

From 1991 to 1992, Jashari and about 100 other ethnic Albanians wishing to fight for the secession of Kosovo from Yugoslavia underwent military training in the municipality of Labinot-Mal in Albania. Afterwards, Jashari and other ethnic Albanians committed several acts of sabotage aimed at the Serbian administrative apparatus in Kosovo.

The Attack

The day before the siege, Adem Jashari received a call from a trusted friend warning him of an approaching MUP convoy with armored vehicles and helicopters. In response, Adem and his brother Hamëz gathered four friends and relatives and sought refuge in the neighboring village of Kodra. Believing it was safe, Adem and Hamëz returned home in the early hours of December 30, but they were awakened by gunfire from Serbian policemen. After 40 minutes, the fighting faded into the forest. During the ensuing shootout, a mob of both armed and unarmed Albanians converged on the Jashari home, forcing the MUP unit to retreat and subsequently declare Prekaz a "no-go area". The brothers did not return home after the Serbian retreat as they suspected it might have been a trap, though it was not the case. They returned home a month later.

Aftermath

With the successful resistance of the Prekaz men against the Serbian military police, the attack invigorated Kosovo Albanians who hoped to break Kosovo from Yugoslav rule.

Sources

• Judah, Tim (2002). Kosovo: War and Revenge. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-09725-2.