Incident in Lez

Incident in Lez
Part of the Kosovo War
Date 1 September 1998 Location Lez, FR Yugoslavia Result Yugoslav victory KLA militants withdraw from Lez after suffering losses
Belligerents
FR Yugoslavia	Kosovo Liberation Army
Commanders and leaders
Božidar Delić	Unknown
Units involved
MUP	Unknown
Casualties and losses
3 wounded	16 killed

The Incident in Lez occurred on 1 September 1998 when Serbian Police (MUP) attacked Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) positions in Lez, a small village between Prizren and the border between Kosovo and North Macedonia. KLA positions in the villages of Kushtendillë, Lybeçevë and Hoçë e Qytetit were also attacked by the MUP as part of the same operation.

The operation

On Monday, August 31 1998, Serbian Police surrounded Lez, a small village located in southeastern Kosovo.

At around 08:00 on Tuesday, September 01 1998, Serbian Police began shelling Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) positions in the hills around the village. The villagers fled to the nearby village of Lubiqevë/Ljubičevo, while KLA members remained in Lez.

At around 10:00, Serbian Police approached a KLA position at a place called Livdahet te Lavdice. A grenade exploded in the trench at this position, killing four members of the KLA. Another six members of the KLA were killed at the same location in an exchange of fire with Serbian Police. In the afternoon, a group of Serbian forces entered the village from the direction of the village of Kustendila, having previously clashed with a group of KLA in the forest above the village, during which three KLA fighters were killed. By the end of the operation, three more members of the KLA were killed.

Serbian-language media reported that three Serbian police officers were wounded during the incident. Miroslav Rakonjac was wounded by automatic weapons around 14:00. Miroljub Ristić was seriously wounded and Nenad Aleksić was lightly wounded by the action of militants using automatic weapons, hand grenade launchers and mortars at around 16:20.

After this, less intense conflicts continued in the surrounding Prizren villages. According to reports in Albanian-language media, a total of 27 members of the KLA were killed in the clashes around Prizren in the period 01-05 September 1998, including the incident in Lez.