Circa June 1999 - As part of "Operation Picnic" - US Special Forces operating inside Kosovo gathered much needed intelligence. Their mission was to identify Serbian units, SAM, and AAA sites, and supply lines while remaining undetected. Occasional contacts with Serbian Militias were brief and violent. This lead to the mobilization of Serbian JSO as a counter force. This NATO unit also scouted out potential invasion routes for use by NATO forces and collected photographic evidence of Serbian war crimes. Once the air campaign began, the unit called in air strikes against selected targets. AO: CISCO OPCOM : COBLEIGH The NATO operation against Serb forces operating in Kosovo took place between March 24 and June 10, 1999. The 22nd Special Air Service is believed to have played a role in the NATO campaign. The Cimmerians will reenact elements of this operation. op RED ROCKET Registration The Unit also reportedly trained and worked alongside specially-selected Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) soldiers who, unfortunately for the secretive unit, were keen to boast about the SPECOP presence in Kosovo. The efforts to train and equip the KLA were a joint US-UK operation and involved the US DIA and UK MI6 as well as serving and former UKSF personnel (sounds like a job for the increment?). Despite the wish to remain low profile, there were reports of clashes
between this unit and Serbian forces. One such incident took place in
near the town of Stimlje, 35 km south-west of Pristina.
The KLA reported to the press that a NATO Special
Forces patrol got into a firefight with Serb paramilitaries / special
police resulting in one Serb KIA and several wounded. A Serb armoured
car mounted with an anti-aircraft gun was also reportedly hit and
damaged with an anti-tank rocket |