PRISTINA: Kosovo on Saturday demanded that Serbia withdraw its troops from their common border, saying it was ready to protect its territorial integrity.
Tensions between the two countries have been high since last Sunday when Kosovo police fought around 30 heavily armed Serbs who stormed the Kosovo village of Banjska and barricaded themselves in a Serbian Orthodox monastery. Three attackers and one police officer were killed.
The gunbattle prompted new international concern over stability in Kosovo, which has an ethnic Albanian majority and declared independence from Serbia in 2008 after a guerrilla uprising and a 1999 NATO intervention.
“We call on President Vucic and the institutions of Serbia to immediately withdraw all troops from the border with Kosovo,” the Kosovo government said in a statement.
“The deployment of Serbian troops along the border with Kosovo is the next step by Serbia to threaten the territorial integrity of our country.”
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic told the Financial Times he did not intend to order his forces to cross the border into Kosovo because an escalation of the conflict would harm Belgrade’s aspirations to the join the European Union.
On Friday the United States said it was monitoring a troubling Serbian military deployment along the Kosovo border that is destabilizing the area.
“Kosovo, in coordination with international partners, is more determined than ever to protect its territorial integrity,” the Pristina government said.
“This deployment also includes the deployment of anti-aircraft systems and heavy artillery.”
“The Government of the Republic of Kosovo has been in constant contact with the USA and the EU countries regarding this serious threat from Serbia.”
NATO, which still has 4,500 troops in Kosovo, said on Friday it had “authorized additional forces to address the current situation.”
Kosovo demands Serbia withdraw troops from border
https://arab.news/6c6tx
Kosovo demands Serbia withdraw troops from border
- Tensions between the two countries have been high since last Sunday when Kosovo police fought around 30 heavily armed Serbs who stormed the Kosovo village of Banjska
Europol warns Iran crisis raises threat of terror, extremism and cyberattacks
- Oorth said groups linked to Iran could seek to carry out “destabilising activities” within the EU
- “The level of terrorist threat and violent extremism in EU territory is considered high“
MADRID: The Middle East conflict will have “immediate repercussions” for European Union security with an increased threat of terrorism, serious and organized crime as well as violent extremism and cyberattacks, European police body Europol told Spanish news agency EFE on Thursday.
Europol spokesman Jan Op Gen Oorth said he expected to see more cyberattacks against European infrastructure and an increase in online fraud using increasingly sophisticated Artificial Intelligence and exploiting the flurry of information swirling about the conflict online, EFE reported.
Groups linked to Iran could seek to carry out “destabilising activities” within the EU, he added, referring to groups linked to the so-called Axis of Resistance, the network of anti-American and Israeli Shiite militias in countries including Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen. These could include terrorist attacks, intimidation campaigns, terrorist financing and cybercrime.
“The level of terrorist threat and violent extremism in EU territory is considered high,” he told the news agency.
The terror threat could be heightened by individuals acting alone or small cells acting on their own initiative, he said.
“The rapid spread of polarizing content on the Internet can accelerate short-term radicalization processes among diaspora communities within the EU and other individuals,” he said.
Europol did not immediately return a Reuters request for comment on the reported statements.
Iran and Israel on Thursday were exchanging fire on a sixth day of war after Israel and the United States launched joint air strikes on Iran on the weekend. So far the attacks have killed more than 1,000 people including Iran’s Supreme Leader, prompted Iran to attack neighbors including Qatar and UAE along with energy shipments.
