Battle of Vërrin

Battle of Vërrin
Part of The Kosovo War
The District of Prizren
Date First battle: July 16 1998 Second battle: September 1-5 1998 Location Territory of Vërrin, District of Prizren Result First battle: KLA victory Second battle: Yugoslav victory Territorial changes Yugoslav forces capture Vërrin
Belligerents
Kosovo Liberation Army	Yugoslav Army Police of Serbia
Commanders and leaders
Ekrem Rexha	unknown
Units involved
125th Brigade	unknown
Strength
630 soldiers in the entire territory	unknown
Casualties and losses
27 killed	2 wounded

The Battle of Vërrin (language: Beteja e Vërrinit; Serbian: битка код Верина, romanized: Bitka kod Verina) was fought during the Kosovo War between the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and the Yugoslav Police (Milicija). The first battle of Vërrin was fought on July 16 1998. During the period from September 1 to 5, 1998, Yugoslav Milicija units conducted an operation against the KLA. As part of this action, KLA positions located near Prizren, in the villages of Lez, Ješkovo, Kuštendil, Ljubičevo, and Hoča Zagradska were attacked. However, the primary engagement occurred in the village of Lez. The area where these villages are situated is referred to as Vërrin by Albanian, hence the designation "Battle of Vërrin."

Background

On the day of July 7 1998, during an ambush, Yugoslav forces failed to liquidate a KLA unit in Billushe, in the territory of Vërrin. Yugoslav army and Yugoslav police vowed to take revenge for the ambush, and they planned an offensive on KLA positions in the territory of Vërrin, which was declared a free zone of the KLA.

Frist Battle

Around 1:30 PM, the Yugoslav forces tried to enter from the Tusus neighborhood, in the direction of Leskovec, Lybeçeva, and towards the village of Hoçë e Qytetit. KLA forces started attacking the Yugoslav forces. The first day of confrontation between the two forces lasted 3 hours and 40 minutes. On the part of the KLA soldiers, there were neither killed nor injured, while the Yugoslav forces were separated with losses.

Second Battle

On Monday, August 31, Yugoslav Police (Milicija) surrounded Lez. By Tuesday morning, September 1, 1998, around 8:00 a.m., they commenced shelling KLA positions in the hills surrounding the village. The villagers fled to nearby Ljubičevo, while the KLA members remained. Around 10:00 a.m., security forces approached the KLA position at a place called Livdahet te Lavdice. A grenade exploded in the trench at this position, resulting in the deaths of four KLA members. Additionally, six KLA members were killed in the same position during the exchange of fire with the police. In the afternoon, a group of security forces entered the village from the direction of the village of Kustendila, after having previously clashed with a group of KLA in the forest above the village, during which three militants were killed. By the conclusion of the operation, three more KLA members were killed. During this successful action against militants in Lez, three policemen were wounded: Miroslav Rakonjac was wounded by automatic weapons around 2:00 p.m., while Miroljub Ristić was seriously wounded, and Nenad Aleksić was lightly wounded by militants using automatic weapons, hand-held launchers, and mortars around 4:20 p.m.

Following this, less intense conflicts persisted in the surrounding Prizren villages, leading to the destruction of the KLA. According to Albanian reports, a total of 27 KLA members were killed in the clashes around Prizren from September 1 to 5, including the conflict in Lez.