Conflict: | Operation Return |
Partof: | the Insurgency in the Preševo Valley |
Date: | 14 March 2001 – 1 June 2001 |
Place: | Ground Safety Zone, FR Yugoslavia |
Result: | Yugoslav victory
|
Territory: | FR Yugoslavia regains control of demilitarized Ground Safety Zone |
Combatant1: | UÇPMB |
Commander1: | Muhamet Xhemajl Ridvan Qazimi Shaqir Shaqiri Mustafa Shaqiri |
Commander2: | Ninoslav Krstić Goran Radosavljević Nebojša Čović |
Strength1: | 1,600 militants[1] |
Strength2: | 3,500 personnel 100 JSO members[2] |
Casualties1: | 300[3] -350[4] soldiers surrendered |
Casualties2: | 1+ armored carrier damaged |
Operation Return was an operation carried by the FR Yugoslavia against the UÇPMB during the insurgency in the Preševo Valley. It resulted in a decisive victory for the Yugoslav forces and the annexation of the Demilitarized Zone on the Serb-Kosovar border.
After the Presevo valley conflict, low intensity skirmishes happened occasionally with the most recent one being in 2014 by a suspected Wahhabi member on the Serbian Gendarmery.
Those skirmishes eventually led to the Crisis in the Preševo valley.