Inconclusive[1]Tactical Yugoslav victory[2] Wartime events Aftermath Aspects The Battle of Košare (Serbian: Битка на Кошарама, romanized: Bitka na Košarama; Albanian: Beteja e Kosharës) was fought during the Kosovo War between the FR Yugoslav Forces and the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), the latter supported by the NATO air forces and Albanian Army.

][20] On 9 April 1999, at 03:00, an artillery barrage began from the Albanian side of the border, aimed in the direction of the Košare military outpost, which was occupied by the Yugoslav Army, in what became one of the bloodiest battles of the Kosovo War.

Serbian reports claimed that the KLA insurgents were assisted by British, French, German and Italian special forces.

Then, with artillery support, the KLA took Maja Glava and continued to bombard the Košare Outpost, which resulted in the Yugoslav soldiers having to abandon their posts.

The Yugoslav Army was unable to take Maja Glava completely, but it prevented the Albanians' artillery from engaging them from their positions.

[citation needed] In April, there weren't any changes on the front lines at Rrasa e Koshares and both sides suffered heavy losses.

Fierce fighting continued until the morning, with the KLA claiming to have killed 47 Yugoslav soldiers, while seven were dead on the Albanian side.

During the night of 10/11 May, NATO bombers dropped dozens of bombs on the Yugoslav troops who had attacked KLA positions around Rrasa e Koshares.

The KLA claimed to have managed to kill 14 Yugoslav Special Forces members after bitter fighting, whilst they suffered no losses.

[11] Although the Yugoslav Army was unable to reclaim the border outpost at Košare,[36] the KLA never broke out of this small bridgehead and was ultimately unsuccessful at securing a corridor from Albania through this route.

[19] It was thought the KLA was unable to make further gains as they lacked heavy weapons after the Albanian army withdrew its support.

[42] Despite managing to capture two villages near Peja and seizing large stretches of the border area northwest of Prizren, the KLA was not able to gain control of the Peja-Prizren highway and suffered heavy losses.

[citation needed] Sali Çekaj and Agim Ramadani were posthumously decorated with Hero of Kosovo by Ibrahim Rugova on the 6th year anniversary of the battle.

[44] On 12 April 2020, Dragutin Dimčevski, deputy commander of the 53rd Border Battalion, was given the Order of the White Eagle by Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić for his service at Košare.