Battle of Vërrin

The Battle of Vërrin (Albanian: 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 Jeshkovo. " This was the first battle in the Prizren District during the Kosovo War.

Background
On July 7, 1998, Yugoslav forces failed to liquidate a KLA unit in Billushe and Hoqa e Qytetit, and were forced to retreat. During the clashes, the KLA managed to blow up a Yugoslav jeep in front of a school. This marked the first clashes between the Yugoslav forces and Albanian separatists. The Yugoslav army and police pledged retaliation for the clashes, strategizing an offensive against KLA positions in what had been declared a KLA free zone.

First 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 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. The night before the second offensive, the KLA had information about large movements of Yugoslav troops around the territories where the KLA positions were located. The KLA soldiers were all in a state of readiness in their positions, with the command of the 125th brigade being put into action.

The 1st Battalion observed Yugoslav movements towards the top of Cyileni, commanders Salajdin Berisha and Xhevat Berisha with a part of the soldiers went to Cyilen. On September 1, 1998, at around 7 am, Yugoslav forces began the offensive against KLA positions. Initially, the attack began in the village of Lez, where fierce fighting took place and Yugoslav forces were met with heavy resistance. At a postion called Livadhet te Lavdices, 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. 3 more KLA soldiers were killed. Those killed were identified as KLA soldiers Xhevat Berisha, Salajdin Berisha, Shefqet Berisha, Hasim Berisha, Nehat Berisha, Alajdin Berisha, Bekim Berisha, Shahadin Berisha, Naip Berisha, Samidin Emini, Ibrahim Osmani, Asllan Berisha, and Izair Berisha.

The fighting soon spread throughout the territory of Vërrin. The Yugoslav forces shelled the positions of the 2nd Battalion from a distance, while the Yugoslav infantry tried to enter the positions of the 1st Battalion. Around 5 pm, Yugoslav forces broke through a KLA position and captured Lez. 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 soldiers using automatic weapons, hand-held launchers, and mortars around 4:20 p.m.

During the same night, while KLA soldiers were observing the terrain between the villages of Kushnin and Arbëri, the soldiers Tamil Shala, Refki Shala and Milaim Thaçi were ambushed. Yugoslav forces began penetrating towards the territory which was under KLA control. Kushnin, Arbëria, Lez, the headquarters of the 125th Brigade in Jeshkovo and the village itself, Hoça e Qytetit, Kushtrimi, Billushë, Poslisht as well as the KLA positions in Vërrin were shelled constantly by the Yugoslav forces. The shelling led to civilian casualties.

The fighting continued on September 2, fierce fighting was concentrated in the village of Jeshkovo because of the Yugoslav goal of penetrating the headquarters of the 125th Brigade, which was located in Jeshkovo. During the afternoon of September 2, Agim Shala, Avdi Shala, Besim Shala, and Fatmir Berisha died.

Heavy shelling continued at Kushtrim and Billushë, and Yugoslav forces tried to enter Dushkaja of Poslisht, then the positions of Tusus. After some positions of the 1st Battalion were broken, the position at Tusus was in danger and the command of the 1st Battalion retreats to the village of Arbëri, while the 2nd Battalion remained at their positions. Astret Poniku, and Arsim Poniku were killed. KLA forces held their positions against the Yugoslav forces, and Jeshkova was under KLA control.