The 1950s and 1960s were a period marked by repression and anti Albanian policies in Kosovo under Aleksandar Ranković, a Serbian communist who later fell out and was dismissed by Tito.

[16][17] Tito rewrote the Yugoslav constitution (1974) and tried to address Albanian complaints by awarding the province of Kosovo autonomy and powers such as a veto in the federal decision making process similar to that of the republics.

[24][25] From 1991 to 1992, Adem Jashari and about 100 other ethnic Albanians wishing to fight for the independence of Kosovo underwent military training in the municipality of Labinot-Mal in Albania.

Attempting to capture or kill him, Serbian police surrounded Jashari and his older brother, Hamëz, at their home in Prekaz on 30 December 1991.

[27] In the spring of 1993, "Homeland Calls" meetings were held in Aarau, Switzerland, organized by Xhavit Haliti, Azem Syla, Jashar Salihu and others.

On 25 October 1996, the Kosovo Liberation Army organized an ambush in Surkis, Podujevo, which resulted in the deaths of 2 Yugoslav police officers.

[41] In January 1997, Serbian security forces assassinated KLA commander Zahir Pajaziti and two other leaders in a highway attack between Pristina and Mitrovica, and arrested more than 100 Albanian militants.

Human Rights Watch subsequently described the trial, in which fourteen other Kosovo Albanians were also convicted, as "[failing] to conform to international standards.

[46][47][48] On 25 November 1997, the Yugoslav police and army were supposed to conduct a raid on the village of Rezalla but were ambushed by KLA forces led by Adem Jashari which had previously hid in the woods.

[49] On 28 November, after the battle ended, the KLA made their first public appearance at the funeral of one of the teachers killed by Serbian forces, giving a speech surrounded by a crowd consisting of hundreds of ethnic Albanian civilians.

[51] Months before the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, the North Atlantic Council said that the KLA was "the main initiator of the violence" and that it had "launched what appears to be a deliberate campaign of provocation".

[52][53] James Bissett, former Canadian Ambassador to Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Albania, wrote in 2001 that media reports indicate that "as early as 1998, the Central Intelligence Agency assisted by the British Special Air Service were arming and training Kosovo Liberation Army members in Albania to foment armed rebellion in Kosovo" with the hope that "NATO could intervene (...)".

[55] With Jashari not present, thousands of Kosovo Albanians descended on Prekaz and again succeeded in pushing the Serbian forces out of the village and its surroundings.

[58] After the KLA killed four policemen in early March 1998, special Serbian police units retaliated and attacked three villages in Drenica.