PRISHTINA, March 24 /ATA/ – Twenty-six years ago today, NATO launched its air campaign against military and police installations and targets in Serbia and Montenegro.
The air strikes kicked off at 07:45 pm, with the NATO bombers dropping first bombs to hit strategic military positions in Serbia and Montenegro, then part of the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
The air campaign was ordered by the then United States President Bill Clinton. He delivered a historic speech that night, announcing that he had ordered the North Atlantic Alliance to begin the military campaign, after failed efforts to end the conflict in Kosovo through diplomacy.
“We and our NATO allies have exhausted every effort for a peaceful solution. But President Milosevic chose aggression over peace. But President Milosevic, who over the past decade started the terrible wars against Croatia and Bosnia, has again chosen aggression over peace,” Clinton stated at the time.
The campaign lasted until June 9, 1999, when the Kumanovo Agreement was signed—forcing Serbian forces to withdraw from Kosovo. Known as NATO’s first-ever military intervention, the operation marked a historic moment in both regional and alliance history.
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