Operation Eagle Eye (

Serbian Serbian may refer to: * someone or something related to Serbia, a country in Southeastern Europe * someone or something related to the Serbs, a South Slavic people * Serbian language * Serbian names See also

* * * Old Serbian (disambiguat ...

: ''Operacija Orlovo oko'') was the result of the

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

Kosovo Verification Mission The 1998-1999 Kosovo Verification Mission (KVM) was an OSCE mission to verify that the Serbian and Yugoslav forces were complying with the UN October Agreement to end atrocities in Kosovo, withdraw armed forces from Kosovo, and abide by a ceasef ...

Agreement which was signed in

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on October 15th 1998, and under which the

Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Serbia and Montenegro ( sr, Cрбија и Црна Гора, translit=Srbija i Crna Gora) was a country in Southeast Europe located in the Balkans that existed from 1992 to 2006, following the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yu ...

agrees to establish an air surveillance system consisting of NATO non-combatant

reconnaissance aircraft A reconnaissance aircraft (colloquially, a spy plane) is a military aircraft designed or adapted to perform aerial reconnaissance with roles including collection of imagery intelligence (including using photography), signals intelligence, as ...

and

unmanned aerial vehicles An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controller ...

. When a NATO "activation order" was given and dated October 30th 1998, it marked the official launch of this

high-tech High technology (high tech), also known as advanced technology (advanced tech) or exotechnology, is technology that is at the cutting edge: the highest form of technology available. It can be defined as either the most complex or the newest te ...

verification mission. The aim was to monitor the federal Yugoslav government's compliance with

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1199 United Nations Security Council resolution 1199, adopted on 23 September 1998, after recalling United Nations Security Council Resolution 1160, Resolution 1160 (1998), the Council demanded that the Albanian and Yugoslav parties in Kosovo end host ...

, and in particular the withdrawal of armed forces from

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...

and compliance with the ceasefire. About 80 aircraft took part in Operation Eagle Eye. 4 of whom are

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planes. This was also the first time since the

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that the

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was used. The monitors consisted of 1,400 ground observers. The Serbs did not comply with the resolutions and agreements. As a result of Yugoslav troop activities and other forms of non-compliance, the ground observers withdrew citing "an unacceptable level of risk to the peace support verification mission", which resulted in an end to aerial verification on 24 March 1999.

Background

The background to NATO's intervention is the brutal repression, expulsion and murder of the Albanian population in Kosovo.

Foreign Minister A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between cou ...

Joschka Fischer Joseph Martin "Joschka" Fischer (born 12 April 1948) is a German retired politician of the Alliance 90/The Greens. He served as the foreign minister and as the vice-chancellor of Germany in the cabinet of Gerhard Schröder from 1998 to 2005. Fis ...

calls this self-mandate of NATO a "very big exception". The General Secretary, Kofi Annan, acknowledged that “excessive and indiscriminate use of force by the Serbian security forces and the Yugoslav Army has resulted in numerous civilian casualties and...the displacement of more than 230,000 people from their homes.” These words were incorporated into

United Nations Security Council resolution 1199 United Nations Security Council resolution 1199, adopted on 23 September 1998, after recalling United Nations Security Council Resolution 1160, Resolution 1160 (1998), the Council demanded that the Albanian and Yugoslav parties in Kosovo end host ...

passed on September 23, that demanded a

ceasefire A ceasefire (also known as a truce or armistice), also spelled cease fire (the antonym of 'open fire'), is a temporary stoppage of a war in which each side agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions. Ceasefires may be between state act ...

, dialogue between the warring parties, the end of action by security forces against civilians, and the safe return of

refugees A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.

back to Kosovo.

Operation

The monitors consisted of 1,400 ground observers, as well as 80 aircraft to patrol the Yugoslav Army. It lasted for 5 months and 26 days until it was terminated on March 24 1999. Michael E. Short commanded the operation.

Termination

When Operation Eagle Eye was created, Serbs did not comply with the terms that quickly. Yugoslav troops began to do activities and other forms of non-compliance which forced all 1400 ground observers to withdraw form Kosovo and the operation was terminated.

References

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