[3] In the Montenegrin-Ottoman war that ensued, strong resistance in the towns of Podgorica and Spuž toward Montenegrin forces was followed by the expulsion of their Albanian and Slavic Muslim populations who resettled in Shkodër.

[7][8] Throughout the course of the war, the Albanian population depending on the area reacted differently to incoming Serbian forces by either offering resistance or fleeing toward nearby mountains and Ottoman Kosovo.

[13] Albanian refugees also settled alongside the north-eastern Ottoman-Serbian border, in urban areas and in over 30 settlements located in central and south-eastern Kosovo.

[3] In the Montenegrin-Ottoman war, the Montenegrin army managed to capture certain areas and settlements along the border, while encountering strong resistance from Albanians in Ulcinj, and a combined Albanian-Ottoman force in the Podgorica-Spuž and Gusinje-Plav regions.

shows an Albanian presence in the Toplica and Southern Morava regions (located north-east of contemporary Kosovo) and in the Preševo Valley since the late Middle Ages.

[23] On the eve of the outbreak of a second round of hostilities between Serbia and the Ottoman Empire in 1877, a notable Muslim population existed in the districts of Niš, Pirot, Vranje, Leskovac, Prokuplje and Kuršumlija.

[42] Jovan Cvijić estimated that the number of Albanian refugees from Serbia was about 30,000[43] a figure which current day Serbian historians such as Dušan Bataković also maintain.

[19][1] Ristić viewed Albanian populated territories as strategically important and representing a future base to expand into Ottoman Kosovo and Macedonia.

[1] General Kosta Protić, who led the Serbian army during the war, did not want Serbia to have "its Caucasus", as an Albanian minority was viewed as a possible security concern.

[19][1] Supporting Protić's views for expulsion of the Muslim population, including Albanians, were most of the senior Serbian army officers and Prince Milan.

[50] Advancing Serbian forces heading to Kuršumlija also came across resisting Albanian refugees spread out in the surrounding mountain ranges and refusing to surrender.

[51][52] Ottoman forces attempted to counterattack through the Toplica valley and relieve the siege at Niš, which turned the area into a battlefield and stranded Albanian refugees in nearby mountains.

[58] The Serbian advance in the southwest was slow, due to the hilly terrain and much resistance by local Albanians who were defending their villages and also sheltering in the nearby Radan and Majdan mountain ranges.

[61][62] Due to depopulation and economic considerations some small numbers of Albanians were allowed to stay and return though not to their previous settlements and instead were designated concentrated village clusters in the Toplica, Masurica and Jablanica areas.

[11][12] This was due to a local Ottoman Albanian commander Shahid Pasha from the Jablanica area negotiating on good terms with Prince Milan and thereby guaranteeing their presence.

[13] Apart from the Llapi river region, sizeable numbers of Albanian refugees were resettled in other parts of northern Kosovo alongside the new Ottoman-Serbian border.

[10] Tensions in the form of revenge attacks also arose by incoming Albanian refugees on local Kosovo Serbs that contributed to the beginnings of the ongoing Serbian-Albanian conflict in coming decades.

[14][18][71] Amidst these events, during spring/summer 1879, multiple violent and predatory raids were conducted into Serbia by groups of Albanian refugees into former areas of residence, at times with the acquiescence of Ottoman authorities.

[72] In the aftermath of the war and expulsions, British diplomatic pressure for some time was applied to Serbia to allow the Albanian refugees to go and return to their homes, though it later subsided.

[75] In the latter part of 1878 and complaining to Lord Salisbury regarding the expulsions, the British Resident in Belgrade Gerald Francis Gould reported that the "peaceful and industrious inhabitants" of the "Toplitza and Vranja Valley were ruthlessly driven forth from their homesteads by the Servians".

[16][74] Josif H. Kostić, a local school headmaster from Leskovac witnessing the flight of refugees during winter 1877 noted that many of them had fled their homes with meagre clothing and that from the "Grdelica gorge and as far as Vranje and Kumanovo, you could see the abandoned corpses of children, and old men frozen to death".

[19] These events in later years would also serve as a possible Serbian solution to the Albanian question in Kosovo and Macedonia for individuals such as Vaso Čubrilović, who advocated similar measures due to their success.

[17] For example: Shulemaja from the village of Šiljomana, Gjikolli from Džigolj, Pllana from Velika and Mala Plana, Retkoceri from Retkocer, Huruglica from Oruglica, Hergaja from Rgaje, Byçmeti from Donji, Gornji and Srednji Bučumet, Nishliu from the city of Niš and so on.