Strike at a Glance

Day 79 - June 10, 1999

Related developments:

Serb troops boarded buses and headed northward out of Kosovo June 10; within hours NATO suspended its bombing campaign.

The first wave of 1,900 U.S. Marines bound for Macedonia as Kosovo peacekeepers swept onto the beach in Greece, coming ashore in camouflage amphibious assault vehicles.


Day 78 - June 9, 1999

Targets and casualties:

Yugoslavia's state-run Tanjug news agency reported daylight NATO airstrikes in southwestern and southern Kosovo but said there were no overnight attacks on Belgrade, the capital.

NATO spokesman Jamie Shea said that over the past 24 hours NATO aircraft flew 523 air missions, including 130 strike sorties.

Related developments:

Talks between NATO generals and Yugoslav representatives on a Serb withdrawal from Kosovo resumed. The two sides are trying to hammer out how Serb forces will withdraw, seen as the next step in an effort to bring the NATO bombing campaign to an end.

Yugoslav and NATO generals signed an agreement on the withdrawal of Yugoslav troops from Kosovo, following a marathon session of intense talks near the Yugoslav-Macedonian border. NATO said once the alliance can confirm Yugoslav forces have begun to pull out of Kosovo, it would suspend its bombardment of Yugoslavia.


Day 77 - June 8, 1999

Targets and casualties:

Belgrade officials said the latest raids hit military barracks in Fruska Gora, about 50 miles (80 km) northwest of the capital, and at Avala, a mountain on the southern outskirts of Belgrade. A military airport in Batajnica, outside the capital, was targeted, officials said. NATO said it flew 658 sorties, including 222 strike and 65 suppression of air defense missions. All NATO aircraft returned safely.

Targets struck included 20 artillery pieces, 10 armored personnel carriers, nine mortar positions, six tanks, eight multiple rocket launchers and other military vehicles.

Related developments:

Foreign ministers of the world's seven major industrialized democracies and Russia agreed on the wording of a draft resolution for the U.N. Security Council aimed at ending the fighting in Kosovo.

British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said the resolution meets all of NATO's demands on Yugoslavia to withdraw its troops from Kosovo.

Cook said the resolution "is good for the refugees" as well as for peace throughout the region.


Day 76 - June 7, 1999

Targets and casualties:

Serb media reported new bombing raids near the cities of Pec and Decani. NATO struck Yugoslav artillery, an ammunition storage site at Kursumlija, a radio relay site at Rudnik and an air defense post at Kopaonik.

Guthrie said allied aircraft took out 21 pieces of artillery in the past 24 hours, and struck an ammunition storage facility in Serbia and a command post in Pristina.

Related developments:

Talks between NATO and Yugoslav military officials to set out the details of the proposed Yugoslav troop withdrawal from Kosovo break down.

NATO said the two sides had agreed to keep in contact, probably via telephone, but no new face-to-face meetings are scheduled for the day.


Day 75 - June 6, 1999

Targets and casualties:
  • NATO bombers hit Yugoslav troops near the Albanian border, in an attempt to dislodge ground forces at 14 still-active artillery positions in Kosovo. Ammunition depots at Pristina and Vasac were among the targets.
Related developments:
  • After two days of talks, the Yugoslavs were balking at signing the document detailing a timetable and routes for their troop withdrawal.

Day 74 - June 5, 1999

Targets and casualties:
  • NATO hit ammunition storage sites at Gnjilane, Urosevac and Vrdnik; storage facilities at Uzice; a radio relay station at Invanijca; and a number of targets in Kosovo, including a command post at Pristina.
Related developments:
  • Two days after Yugoslavia agreed to the Group of Eight nations' peace plan, Yugoslav military and police commanders met NATO Lt. Gen. Michael Jackson to receive plans for their withdrawal from Kosovo.

  • Several NATO countries told military units to prepare to move into the Balkans on short notice for service in the Kosovo peacekeeping mission.

Day 73 - June 4, 1999

Targets and casualties:
  • Allied targets included ammunition storage sites at Novi Pazar, Boljevac and Kursumlija, a petroleum storage site at Sombor, a railway petroleum loading facility at Leskovac, MUP Headquarters at Kula Milicija, an airfield at Ponikve, a training area at Cuprija, an AM radio broadcast station at Srbobran, and TV/FM broadcast stations at Pirot and Kapaonik. NATO said all allied aircraft returned safely.

  • Serbian media said that a television transmitter on Mount Fruska Gora near Novi Sad was hit. Other reported targets included the Djakovica area of Kosovo as well as Batajnica just outside Belgrade.

  • Col. Konrad Freytag, NATO's military spokesman, briefed reporters for the first time on Serb military casualties in the 11-week-old conflict. "We saw the reports that the Serbs themselves had confirmed about 1,800 losses, but our estimate is much higher, losses and injured people, far more than 10,000," he said.
Related developments:
  • Following a heated debate, the Serbian Parliament approved the international peace plan for Kosovo. A top Yugoslav government official said a troop withdrawal from Kosovo could begin by Sunday.

  • NATO said there was no indication so far of a withdrawal and that until there were a verifiable withdrawal, the bombing would continue. NATO spokesman Jamie Shea said that within days NATO would be ready to deploy a peace keeping force in Kosovo if conditions were right.

Day 72 - June 3, 1999

Related developments:
  • Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic has accepted the terms of an international peace plan for Kosovo, Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari -- the European Union's envoy to Yugoslavia -- told EU leaders in Cologne, Germany, that Milosevic agreed to the peace plan, which Serbia's parliament voted to accept earlier in the day.

  • The White House called this a positive development but said it was eager to hear details directly from Ahtisaari when he arrives later Thursday in Germany.

  • NATO officials expressed cautious optimism, but said air raids would continue until Yugoslavia begins to implement the peace plan, including the withdrawal of troops from Kosovo.

Day 71 - June 2, 1999

Targets and casualties:
  • Powerful explosions rocked the Belgrade suburbs of Batajnica, where a military airport is located, and Lipovicka Suma, home to a communications center. Military barracks in Obrenovac, near Belgrade, were hit during the raids, and power was out throughout much of the Yugoslav capital.

  • There were reports of attacks in Pancevo; Nis, Yugoslavia's third largest city; and the Kosovo capital of Pristina, as well as in the Serb towns of Cuprija and Ruma.

  • NATO aircraft struck at least 32 pieces of artillery, nine armored personnel carriers, eight mortar positions, six armored vehicles and four other military vehicles. The heaviest strikes against Serb forces in Kosovo took place in the vicinity of Planeja and Mount Pastrik.

  • NATO aircraft flew 575 sorties, including 197 strike sorties and 70 enemy air defense-suppression missions.
Related developments:
  • Russian envoy Viktor Chernomyrdin and Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari were to present to Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic a plan to end the Kosovo crisis. Their trip from Bonn, Germany, was delayed by what Russian news agencies said were last-minute U.S. proposals that were "partially unacceptable" to Russia.

Day 70 - June 1, 1999

Targets and casualties:
  • NATO forces struck transformers in Belgrade and Nis, causing blackouts in northern Serbia.

  • Serbian media reported that NATO bombs struck an apartment building in Novi Pazar, killing at least 10 people and injuring 20 others. NATO continues to draw fire for attacks that have resulted in civilian deaths, but denies that civilians have been targeted.
Related developments:
  • Russian, American and Finnish envoys meet in what are expected to be critical talks in the diplomatic effort to end the crisis in Kosovo. Russia's special envoy to the Balkans Viktor Chernomyrdin said he is bringing "new Russian proposals" to discussions with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott and Finnish President Marrti Ahtisaari.