{"id":15684,"date":"2023-05-31T08:20:25","date_gmt":"2023-05-31T05:20:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/?p=15684"},"modified":"2023-05-31T10:35:41","modified_gmt":"2023-05-31T07:35:41","slug":"dozens-of-nato-peacekeeping-soldiers-injured-in-kosovo-after-clashes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/dozens-of-nato-peacekeeping-soldiers-injured-in-kosovo-after-clashes\/","title":{"rendered":"Dozens of NATO peacekeeping soldiers injured in Kosovo after clashes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

At least 34 soldiers from a NATO-led peacekeeping mission were injured in Kosovo after the worst clashes with Serb protestors in the Northern part of the country. Several of the injured soldiers were part of the Italian contingent of the peacekeeping mission.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tensions have been rising in the northern part of Kosovo after ethnic Albanian mayor took office in the country\u2019s Serb-majority region. NATO\u2019s Kosovo Force<\/span><\/a> (KOFR) tried to ease the tension and stop the violent protests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the Italian Defense Ministry, 14 of its peacekeeping soldiers were injured after protestors threw \u201cMolotov cocktails, with nails, firecrackers, and stones inside.\u201d Hungarian and Moldovan soldiers were also among the injured peacekeeping troops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Italy\u2019s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expressed her sympathy for the Italian KFOR soldiers injured in the clashes. She released a statement saying that \u201cWhat is happening is absolutely unacceptable and irresponsible. We will not tolerate further attacks on KFOR.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Rising violence<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A new wave of violence erupted in Kosovo\u2019s Serb-majority northern regions after Albanians and other smaller minority representatives were elected to the mayoral posts and assemblies. The votes were largely boycotted by the ethnic Serbs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Kosovo\u2019s local police, ethnic Serb protestors started gathering on the streets in the municipalities of Leposavic, Zubin Potok, and Zvecan. The situation became particularly tense in the Zveqan on May 29, 2023. Protestors gathered outside the town hall where they tried to storm inside the mayor\u2019s office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
U.S. KFOR soldiers stand guard in front of the municipality office, while ethnic Serbs gather to protest, in the town of Leposavic, Kosovo, on May 29, 2023. (Image Credit: Reuters\/Valdrin Xhemaj)<\/sup><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Local police tried to repel the violent protestors using tear gas and water cannons before the NATO-led KOFR forces intervened. The KOFR troops attempted to disperse the crowd with batons and shields. Several protestors responded by hurling rocks, bottles, and Molotov cocktails at the forces, resulting in several injuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Serbia\u2019s reactions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Serbia\u2019s Prime Minister Ana Brnabic criticized NATO\u2019s handling of the situation saying that KFOR was \u201cnot protecting the people, they are protecting the usurpers,\u201d apparently referring to the new mayors. \u201cBut we must protect the peace. Peace is all we have,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kosovo, once a Serbian province, declared its independence in 2008 a decade after the 1998-1999 war. The majority of Kosovo\u2019s population consists of the Albanian ethnic groups, while Serbs account for the second largest ethnicity in the country. Half of Kosovo\u2019s Serb population lives in the northern part and refuses to recognize Kosovo\u2019s independence making it one of the most volatile regions in Eastern Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After NATO\u2019s intervention in 1999, Serbia completely pulled out from Kosovo but refused to recognize its independence. NATO established the KFOR peacekeeping mission in Kosovo which largely operates in the country\u2019s northern parts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


More forces in Kosovo<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following the violent clashes this week, NATO has decided to deploy an additional 700 troops under the KFOR mission in Kosovo.  According to Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, NATO has \u201cdecided to deploy 700 more troops from the operational reserve force for Western Balkans.\u201d A typical NATO peacekeeping battalion ranges from 300 to 1000 soldiers, however, the peacekeeping mission in Kosovo currently consists of almost 3,800 troops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Members of a peacekeeping force patrol the area near the border crossing between Kosovo and Serbia in Jarinje, Kosovo. (Image Credit: Laura Hasani\/Reuters)<\/sup><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At least 34 soldiers from a NATO-led peacekeeping mission were injured in Kosovo after clashes with Serb protestors in the Northern part of the country. Several of the injured soldiers were part of the Italian contingent of the peacekeeping mission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15688,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[62,1],"tags":[75,357,65,584,59,49,389,113,326],"class_list":["post-15684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe","category-news","tag-conflict","tag-europe","tag-italy","tag-kosovo","tag-nato","tag-peace","tag-peacekeeping","tag-security","tag-serbia"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/NATO-Force-KFOR-soldiers-clash-Kosovo.jpg?fit=690%2C370&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7jJWb-44Y","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15684"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15684\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15695,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15684\/revisions\/15695"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}