Wartime events Aftermath Aspects The Drenica massacres (Serbian: Масакри у Дреници, Masakri u Drenici, Albanian: Masakra në Drenicë) were a series of killings of Kosovo Albanian civilians committed by Serbian special police forces[a] in the Drenica region of central Kosovo.

[2] According to Human Rights Watch, abuses in the Drenica region during the Kosovo War 1998–1999 "were so widespread that a comprehensive description is beyond the scope of this report".

[1] Between February 28 and March 5, police launched multiple military-style attacks on the villages of Ćirez, Likoshan and Prekaz, using armored vehicles and helicopters.

[2] On February 28 and March 1, responding to KLA ambushes of the police, special forces attacked two adjacent villages, Ćirez and Likoshan.

[4] These massacres were partly responsible for the radicalisation of the Kosovo Albanian population and helped to solidify armed opposition to Belgrade's rule.

[2] Many ethnic Albanians who had been committed to the nonviolent politics of Ibrahim Rugova decided to join the KLA, in part because they viewed armed insurgency as the only means of achieving independence.

[1]Between 19 March and 15 June 1999, government forces in Drenica engaged in a campaign of ethnic cleansing of the Albanians of Kosovo that involved summary and arbitrary executions, detentions, beatings, looting, and destruction of schools, hospitals, and other civilian objects.

Out of 47 family members (including 23 children under fifteen years old) that the forces attempted to kill with a grenade thrown into a room, there were six survivors.