Petkovic: Defenders of Kosare taught us lesson in how to defend fatherland

BELGRADE - The head of the Serbian government Office for Kosovo-Metohija Petar Petkovic said on Wednesday the defenders of the Kosare border outpost from 1999 had taught the Serbs a lesson in how to defend the fatherland, and noted that their courage would inspire future generations of Serbian patriots.

Petkovic wrote this in a post on X to mark the 26th anniversary of the beginning of the 67-day Battle of Kosare in Kosovo-Metohija, which thwarted a NATO ground offensive during the 1999 NATO bombing, claiming the lives of 108 Yugoslav Army soldiers.

"On this day, Albanian terrorists from Kosovo-Metohija, aided by NATO and the Albanian army, launched an attack on Yugoslav border troops on Mt Prokletije, in the zone of the Kosare outpost. At higher or lower intensity, the battle in the wider Kosare area lasted until the end of the aggression on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and our border troops, our heroes - despite being outnumbered by several times - were not defeated. The defenders of Kosare were the Serbian stone against which the terrorist forces shattered and, thanks to their steadfastness, our generation has proved that it is worthy of its glorious ancestors," Petkovic wrote in the post.