Today marks the 10 year anniversary of the NATO bombing campaign of the then Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The campaign, in response to the conflict in Serbia’s southern province of Kosovo, lasted 78 days and nights between March 24 and June 11, 1999. It was the first international bombing of a European country since World War II.
Government and military buildings, including the Yugoslavian Army Headquarters (pictured below), bridges (Novi Sad lost all of its bridges) and radio and telecommunication equipment across Serbia and Kosovo were destroyed. During the bombing many civilian buildings and areas were hit including apartment blocks, a passenger train, an Albanian refugee convoy, a maternity hospital, a car factory and most famously the Chinese Embassy, which caused international uproar. A bomb even hit Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. In one of the most deadly incidents, 15 civilians were killed and dozens injured when cluster bombs hit the southern city of Nis during the day, including the bus station and central market.
Estimates put the number of civilian deaths, both Serb and Albanian, at 2,500 and 12,000 people were injured. The police and military suffered 1,000 deaths.
The bombing left Serbia’s infrastructure in ruins. Novi Sad lost all three of its bridges and water and electricity supplies were severely disrupted. The ecological impact of bombings was also high with oil refineries hit releasing carcinogenic and toxic gases into the air and water supplies contaminated. Residents suffered daily trauma and food shortages were a problem.
Protests and vigils were held on an almost daily basis in the main squares of Serbia’s cities and on bridges. State television broadcast pirated Hollywood blockbusters before they were in the cinema, nightclubs opened their doors during the day for the youth to dance and try to forget what was happening and large outdoor concerts and performances were held.
Services will be held later today to remember the victims of the conflict and the air raid sirens will be sounded across Serbia at midday with a minute’s silence afterward.
Walking through Belgrade today, it’s difficult for me to comprehend what life must have been like during the NATO bombing. I just hope that nothing like it ever happens again.
What do you think of the NATO bombing of the then Yugoslavia? Where you in the country at the time? What are your memories? Let us know by leaving a comment.
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on Mar 24th, 2009 at 8:14 am
And still no-one can satisfactorily explain what the hell it was all for. But we’re all friends again now, so let’s leave it…
on Mar 24th, 2009 at 8:23 am
@Mark
However it’s important to be aware what happened. It costed lifes and it was pointless.
At the time in Western Europe we were bad informed about what was going on, we could just read some stuff about “humanitarian war” and how that war was necessary. We dind’t know any better!
Let’s inform at least now, and show it really was for nothing…
on Mar 24th, 2009 at 9:40 am
I agree actually, I was being a little bit sarcastic – sorry, it’s the lowest form of humour, I know.
I guess history will tell what it was all about, but by then no-one will care. But to expect any honesty or apology from either side is probably too hopeful…
on Mar 24th, 2009 at 10:03 am
Hi, Adam. Thanks for your comments on my bombing post today. I have a ‘rock’ collection from bombed sites like the ones you show…
on Mar 24th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
“Walking through Belgrade today, it’s difficult for me to comprehend what life must have been like during the NATO bombing. I just hope that nothing like it ever happens again. ”
Now imagine how it was in Kosova, Bosnia and Croatia and servian rapists and killers were set loose on the civilian population.
on Mar 24th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
And round and round we go…
on Mar 24th, 2009 at 1:34 pm
And round.
@Ron
Yes, I have tried to imagine what it must have been like in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo when Serbian, Muslim, Croat and Kosovo Albanains all commited atrocities against each other.
Everyone suffered during the 1990s, even Serbian civilians.
But the focus of this article is about the bombing of Yugoslavia (including Kosovo), not anything else.
on Mar 24th, 2009 at 11:18 pm
@Adam
I am sorry but I cannot resist.
@Ron
Saying that Serbian rapists and killers were “set loose” has a very specific meaning. Unless you have evidence to support that the Serbian government had a stockpile of rapists and murderers at hand, and that it used that stockpile for premeditated mass rape and murder, you’re making a politically incorrect statement. I would be careful when making such wild accusations if I were you (or I would at least back them up).
And BTW Ron, you “set loose” live stock, not human beings.
on Mar 25th, 2009 at 3:07 am
@ RON (who must be an Albanian, still freely walking the streets of Belgrade, Serbia … what an irony….)
The history will show that Europe sold itself for a handful of $$$
to USA, lost its own dignity and allowed USA and Israel to bomb a sovereign, Christian country in the heart of Europe = Serbia. NATO was quick in destroying everything that the human brain & hand built decades over decades, it killed over 3,000 innocent civilians, injured more than 12,000, it raped the mind and the emotions of 10 million people for 78 straight days.
USA and Israel needed a new military compound in Europe (after Germany’s wall was gone) and it found a good solution: destroy Serbia, make it weak, declare its most sacred part – Kosovo independent and provide the Muslims – Albanians with the feeling that they our the rightful landlords of Kosovo from now on…… (Mrs. Klinton is Albania’s best friend, along with Richard Holbrooke, Madaline Albright and other popular jewish – american faces who are the creators of the surrent state).
History will tell you that you will have to fight for your Christian belief, like Serbian people had to , while you kept your eyes wide shut and threw bombs in the name of a new world order orchestrated by the above named……
on Mar 26th, 2009 at 10:46 pm
“But the focus of this article is about the bombing of Yugoslavia (including Kosovo), not anything else.”
And nothing else is relevant? So Ron gets firmly put in his place by everyone for daring to mention that a few things had happened that might have had a connection with the bombing.
I don’t think it was the bombing of Pancevo that created the toxic atmosphere which from the look of things here still doesn’t appear to have dispersed.
on Mar 26th, 2009 at 11:01 pm
@Owen
I don’t think anyone said it is not relevant at all. I “firmly put” Ron in his place for being politically incorrect in my opinion.
And one more thing, the things Ron mentioned could not have happened because of the bombing because most of it (if not all of it) happened before the bombing. In fact, and I beg someone to correct me if I’m wrong, the bombing happened because of the atrocities in Kosovo.
on Mar 26th, 2009 at 11:24 pm
Owen, I’m not saying other things aren’t relavent. They are, but the focus of my article is only about what happened during the NATO bombing in the then Yugoslavia and its consequences, not the reasons behind it.
Because I live in Belgrade, it’s more relevant to me, personally, what happened here and it’s easier and more natural to try and imagine what it would have been like.
A lot has been said about the suffering of Bosnian Muslims, Croats and Albanians over the years, I think there is room to talk about the suffering of Serbian civilians, which gets overlooked too much for my liking.
on Mar 28th, 2009 at 8:30 am
Adam, of course I’ve no quarrel with remembering the suffering of civilians in Serbia under the bombing. It must have been a horrendous experience, and it’s right to try and understand what it was like, but your post seemed to have come from the distant Planet Serbia that seems to have been following a parallel track through the universe since 1989.
What threw me reading the post and the comments was initially the assumption that the bombing could be considered as a phenomenon in isolation but in particular the firm put-down administered to someone who tried to put the anniversary in context.
The reason why the suffering of Serbian civilians often gets overlooked and people like myself and Ron continue to recall the horrors endured by other people is the apparent determination of so many Serbians to ignore anyone else’s suffering. So too much energy still gets consumed trying to establish a baseline of reality.
on Mar 29th, 2009 at 6:09 pm
KLA started war becouse they wanted indipendence Kosovo, Kosovo was always serbian theritory. NATO and USA bombing Serbia becouse that was part ot bigger geostrategic interests of America. IT IS THE REAL THRUTH!
on Apr 2nd, 2009 at 11:23 am
[quote]Aleksandar KLA started war becouse they wanted indipendence Kosovo, Kosovo was always serbian theritory. NATO and USA bombing Serbia becouse that was part ot bigger geostrategic interests of America. IT IS THE REAL THRUTH![/quote]
Exactly.The best proof for that is camp Bondsteel in Kosovo,american biggest military base in Europe.It is located close to vital oil pipelines and energy corridors presently under construction,to control Caspian oil.
According to Colonel Robert L. McClure, writing in the engineers professional Bulletin, “Engineer planning for operations in Kosovo began months before the first bomb was dropped. At the outset, planners wanted to use the lessons learned in Bosnia and convinced decision makers to reach base-camp ‘end state’ as quickly as possible.
According to leaked comments to the press, European politicians now believe that the US used the bombing of Yugoslavia specifically in order to establish Camp Bondsteel. Before the start of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999, the Washington Post insisted, “With the Middle-East increasingly fragile, we will need bases and fly over rights in the Balkans to protect Caspian Sea oil.”
We should never forget and never forgive the genocide that NATO committed against Serbian people.
on Jul 22nd, 2009 at 7:10 am
[...] five hundred reunion. Lest we forget. Let’s not forget Slick Willy’s phony war either. Tenth anniversary of the NATO bombing of Serbia. __________________ Veritas Vos [...]
on Aug 6th, 2009 at 5:06 am
Kosovo Conflict is yet another proof that “ORDERS” always come from Rijad and Rome. Forget the Rockefellers and Rotchilds and the rest. The most powerfull people in the World are the Pope and the King Abdullah.
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