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Nga Lufta ne Kosove
bombardimet e NATO ne serbi
lajmet e Shteteve Perendimore
bombardimet e NATO ne serbi
lajmet e Shteteve Perendimore
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Short filmTranscript
00:00...on the tens of thousands of refugees who have crossed from Kosovo.
00:04The country says it can take no more.
00:07In this sprawling camp of more than 65,000 people,
00:11there is a growing sense of panic and chaos,
00:14not least among the Macedonian security forces,
00:17imposing order at times with a stern hand.
00:20The targets include things like an oil refinery at Novi Sad,
00:26one of the targets on the list tonight, part of the campaign of NATO
00:31to cut off the supply lines that fuel the Yugoslav army.
00:35But these strikes tonight come as the Pentagon admits
00:38that the NATO airstrikes have not fulfilled the goal of deterring the Yugoslav army.
00:45Now the attention will have to be turned to destroying it.
00:50The clear skies over Yugoslavia allowed laser-guided bombs to hit targets like this bridge
00:55that until now could only be attacked with satellite-guided missiles.
01:00A full range of NATO planes carried out strikes on roughly two dozen targets,
01:04including American B-2s, B-1s, F-117s, F-15s, and F-16s, as well as British tornadoes.
01:12Clearly last night was a substantial armed aircraft to use against Serb ground forces.
01:16It's designed as a tank killer.
01:18It carries 16 of the Hellfire missiles,
01:23which are specifically designed for taking on heavy armored targets.
01:29In addition to Hellfire laser-guided missiles,
01:31the Apache is armed with two 30-millimeter cannons,
01:34capable of firing more than 600 rounds per minute.
01:37It cruises at 189 miles an hour.
01:40Apaches debuted in 1989 during U.S. military action in Panama.
01:44They attacked Iraqi radar sites during the first wave of Operation Desert Storm.
01:49Apaches have also been used during NATO peacekeeping operations in Bosnia.
01:53Their use in Kosovo brings the Apaches close to the terrain they were built for.
01:57Apaches were designed during the Cold War for possible use in Eastern Europe
02:00against Soviet forces and the Warsaw Pact.
02:03The rugged, mountainous terrain of Yugoslavia is, as I say, ideal
02:08because they're designed to fly and hide in certain nooks and crannies
02:13or various areas wherever they can get in a little valley.
02:16The Apaches' biggest advantage?
02:18Its ability to fly in most kinds of weather and at night.
02:21Pilots use infrared and night vision equipment to navigate and target,
02:25but it's an advantage that's been known to backfire.
02:28During Desert Storm, Apaches were involved in several friendly fire incidents.
02:31They misidentified some targets.
02:34When you're operating, when you're using FLIR or night vision goggles
02:37and these kinds of sight equipment,
02:41essentially you can't, you're never 100% sure
02:44whether or not what you're seeing is a friend or foe.
02:47Built by McDonnell Douglas, now a part of Boeing,
02:50each Apache costs just under $15 million.
02:53Despite their comparatively low price tag, Apaches are high-maintenance aircraft.
02:57They go through spare parts quickly.
02:59And we're cutting...
03:00Novi Sad has been hit consecutively for the past three nights,
03:03as indeed is Belgrade.
03:05Belgrade just reports, our CNN staff there report,
03:08another big strike against the Yugoslav capital.
03:11I can say that today's activity, or rather tonight's activity,
03:15seems to coincide with a clearing of the weather.
03:18It is a clear night here down in southern Serbia, where I am now.
03:22It's quite clear to see some of the explosions
03:24that were taking place in Nish, Yugoslavia's third-largest city.
03:29And Serbian television, as you point out, Bettina,
03:32continues to show considerable amounts of collateral damage
03:35and damage to infrastructure, bridges, roads, transport.
03:39NATO clearly going after supply lines throughout Yugoslavia.
03:44So certainly an increased level, it would seem, of NATO activity.
03:48But here in Aleksinac tonight, quite a high degree of sadness at the scale of devastation,
03:54they say, that has taken the casualty toll very high in a civilian area of this southern Serbian town of Aleksinac.
04:04Bettina.
04:04And, Brent, well, of course, we are watching those pictures from Aleksinac.
04:08The people around Yugoslavia in other parts, how have they been affected by these airstrikes?
04:15Have their supply lines for civilian life also been affected already, as far as you can tell?
04:23Well, there are two phases, really.
04:25By daytime, people go about their business as best they can.
04:28At nighttime, all cities and towns are really devoid of any life at all.
04:33People either go to shelters if they're available, or they lie low.
04:37In terms of what's happening throughout the country as a whole,
04:41it's impossible to give an accurate assessment of just how much damage NATO is doing to Yugoslav supply lines.
04:49Since this all began more than a week ago, an international military effort is now underway.
04:55NATO countries are deploying troops, helicopters, and other resources to assist in the humanitarian crisis.
05:01The French army has started to rush in food supplies.
05:07Delighted deportees help them off.
05:09Changed by the long-awaited better weather over the Balkans.
05:12The step up, the step back has all been pre-coordinated, pre-thought out by the air leaders,
05:17and we are on that timeline and can continue until we accomplish our objectives.
05:20War then, to a degree, an automatic pilot.
05:27In a situation increasingly bewilderingly complex, the air campaign driving the effort to save these people.
05:35Still, for all its high-tech dazzle, basic, according to men on the flight line in a day's work.
05:41There's nothing really out of the normal for us.
05:43The only difference is our pilots have a little more risk to it,
05:46and the jets are coming back with the bombs, you know, missing.
05:50At a main staging area of the conflict over Kosovo,
05:54a sense of omission so far, for the most part, antiseptic.
05:58The sense of calm around here for hours at a time at Aviano, especially at night, can, of course, be deceptive.
06:05Most of what flies out of here flies into harm's way,
06:08and better weather only means more close-in combat, more risk.
06:12Still, like the calm mountains that ridge Aviano,
06:16an airbase that at times seems somehow above it all.
06:22600 support personnel crosses an important threshold for NATO.
06:27The low-flying Apaches will go after Serbian troops and tanks on the ground.
06:32They'll be protected by ground-based anti-personnel missile batteries,
06:35and by Bradley fighting vehicles and tanks that will remain in Albania.
06:39These are all Army weapons used by soldiers in Army Green,
06:45yet the administration stresses their deployment is not the beginning of a ground force for Kosovo.
06:51It's a continuation and intensification of the air campaign.
06:55That's something that we are committed to, and this is an addition to it.
06:58It's something that the General Clark, Saccure, has requested,
07:03and it's something we think is necessary for him to be able to take this battle right into the forces on the ground
07:10who are doing this horrible ethnic cleansing.
07:14Army helicopters part of the air campaign?
07:17Some military experts are not so sure.
07:20You asked about the 24 Apache helicopters, 2,000 servicemen, Bradley fighting vehicles going in with them.
07:28What does that mean?
07:30It means ground power.
07:32Is it incremental? Yeah.
07:34In addition to the Apache helicopter team,
07:36NATO is planning to deploy another 6,000 to 8,000 troops in Albania to help the refugees,
07:42on top of the 12,000 already in Macedonia.
07:44If a ground force for Kosovo should be needed, the beginnings of one will be in place, nearby.
07:51Another thing about the Apaches, while they are considered extremely effective against tanks and ground forces,
07:57they are also more vulnerable than high-flying aircraft.
08:01They come up fast, attack a target, and then move.
08:06Well, that's nice, unless the Yugoslav tanks and armored personnel carriers on the other side of the mountain
08:12have surface-to-air missiles, and they have lots of them.
08:16We will lose Apaches, I'll tell you.
08:18But all of this may take...
08:20Alexinec, 3 a.m., the night the war came to a small mining town in Serbia.
08:27These were residential streets, not a sign of anything military.
08:31The emergency services say they were hit by cruise missiles,
08:34which killed five people, injured 30, five seriously.
08:37The target? Probably a barracks on the outskirts of town, at least a kilometre from here.
08:43This is one of the strikes of the spots.
08:46There is another one, also totally civilian building,
08:49maybe five metres away from first aid unit and hospital.
08:53It was just a matter of time before something like this happened,
08:56and the time was 9.40 p.m.
08:58Three cruise missiles hit the centre of town.
09:01We're told that two people died in the house behind me.
09:04The emergency services have yet to finish checking all the houses.
09:07The dead were taken to the morgue.
09:10The injured to a hospital in the city of Nish.
09:12Men, women and children were all caught in the blast.
09:17Most people had been in the shelters,
09:19otherwise there would have been more casualties.
09:21They emerged to view the wreckage of the town centre.
09:25This man told us he heard the missiles coming in in quick succession,
09:28and then in his words, disaster.
09:30He was still in a state of shock hours after the bombing.
09:33Many buildings were in ruins and several hundred dwellings were damaged.
09:39Immediate first aid was given here, in premises smashed a few minutes earlier.
09:43The staff also in shock.
09:44The people here are absolutely furious.
09:50They cannot understand why the town was targeted or how NATO got it so badly wrong.
09:56As they cleared up, those questions were asked over and over again.
09:59People we talked to in private, away from the police,
10:02said the barracks had been empty for two years and that they were nowhere near the centre.
10:05Three streets away from where the missiles fell,
10:10the shock waves had blown out most of the windows in the shopping area.
10:13This tragedy will be used by the Yugoslav authorities to reinforce public opinion here,
10:18but that doesn't mean it didn't happen.
10:20Tim Marshall, Sky News, Alexi Nats.
10:24RAF Harriers targeted Serbian troops in Kosovo today.
10:27It was their first strike against ground forces,
10:29and the pilots were said to be confident of success.
10:31Sky's David Crabtree is at NATO's Gioia del Colle airbase in southern Italy.
10:39The Harrier GR7s left Gioia del Colle airbase around midnight,
10:44each carrying two 1,000-pound Paveway laser-guided bombs.
10:49For eight frustrating days, they'd been unable to identify their targets,
10:54mainly because of bad weather.
10:56But in the early hours, they flew deep into Kosovo
10:59and destroyed what's been described as a static target.
11:03They saw a lot of AAA coming up from the ground,
11:08more than they had seen on previous occasions,
11:10though none of the aircraft were targeted by either SAMs or by FRY fighters.
11:17One aircraft was unable to drop
11:19because he couldn't positively identify his target.
11:23To avoid the risk of collateral damage,
11:25the pilot brought his bombs back.
11:27The British Harriers are now involved in a round-the-clock operation,
11:32targeting installations as well as mobile units inside Kosovo.
11:37A mark, say the RAF, of the versatility of their GR7s.
11:41All the Harriers returned safely to base to be made ready for the next mission.
11:47David Crabtree, Sky News.
11:49An oil depot, an oil depot that NATO says is linked to the Yugoslav military
11:55because, of course, that military depends on fuel and diesel oil
12:00to conduct its operations.
12:02The before and after scenes show the destruction of that oil depot.
12:07At the same time, questions raised about the ongoing damage
12:10to the economic infrastructure of Yugoslavia.
12:14NATO officials also this day striking out very strongly at Slobodan Milosevic,
12:19implying, or more than implying,
12:21that he will be personally held accountable for the actions of his troops.
12:25Now, this is a theme...
12:26We don't seem to have that report right away,
12:35but just a reminder again that the Yugoslav leadership
12:38has called for, as declared, a unilateral ceasefire
12:42over the strikes against Yugoslavia.
12:46Now we'll go back to that report from Serbian television
12:48in which they made that declaration.
12:50During Easter, all the action will unilaterally stop
12:59in Kosovo and Metohia regarding the Easter
13:02and expecting that this act will be,
13:06this gesture will be appreciated as expression of the will
13:12of the most population in Kosovo
13:15and expecting that the extreme element
13:19will refrain from terrorist actions
13:22against civilians and authorities.
13:28This speech was immediately dismissed here at the White House
13:31and by the NATO allies
13:33because it rejects one absolute demand from NATO,
13:36that any ceasefire also include permission
13:38for a NATO-led peacekeeping force or security force
13:42to return to Kosovo with the refugees.
13:44Just before the announcement was made on Serbian TV,
13:47the president was here at the White House.
13:49He said that Mr. Milosevic must meet all of NATO's demands
13:52if he hopes to end the bombing.
13:54Mr. Milosevic could end it now
13:56by withdrawing his military police and paramilitary forces,
14:00by accepting the deployment of an international security force
14:03to protect not only the Kosovar Albanians,
14:06most but not all of whom are Muslims,
14:09but also the Serbian minority in Kosovo.
14:13Everybody.
14:14U.S. officials had predicted there would be such an offer
14:18from the Yugoslav government.
14:19They say the president and the British Prime Minister,
14:21Tony Blair, worked the phone throughout the weekend
14:24making sure that if such an offer were made,
14:26it would not crack NATO's solidarity.
14:28They say there is no cracks,
14:29that the bombing will continue
14:30unless Mr. Milosevic meets all of NATO's demands.
14:33The biggest one that he objects to, of course,
14:35a NATO-led peacekeeping force, security force,
14:38going back into Kosovo with those refugees.
14:40Frank, stop the airstrike campaign that's going on at the moment,
14:45but no doubt you've been hearing the Yugoslav offer of a ceasefire.
14:50You would probably want to stop that campaign on the right terms, I imagine.
14:53Well, absolutely.
14:55We've been obviously watching the political events unfold this afternoon.
14:59My understanding is that NATO at the moment is treating it with some scepticism,
15:03and clearly we'll continue to watch that,
15:05and we stand by to contribute to the air campaign should that continue.
15:09No change of orders for you yet?
15:11Not yet, no.
15:15When you go, when you and your detachment are deployed in a campaign like this,
15:21I mean, how much do you listen to the political overtones here,
15:27or do you try to shut that out and concentrate on the job?
15:31A bit of both, really.
15:32We all monitor the political events as they unfold with interest,
15:36because we don't work in a vacuum,
15:38but clearly our role is actually to be ready to fly aircraft,
15:42fly sorties, and actually conduct the operations as required,
15:45so we very much concentrate on that,
15:47and that's what we're focused on here.
15:50How has your last 24 hours or so been?
15:56It's not been too bad.
15:58There's been a period of frustration in the last week
16:00where the weather's been hampering operations.
16:02Clearly things were successful last night,
16:04some successful sorties this morning as well,
16:06and overall the morale of the detachment's pretty good,
16:10and we're here to continue as required.
16:14No doubt, as well as listening and watching what's happening politically,
16:19you must also see those pictures,
16:20like the rest of us do, of the refugees coming out of Kosovo.
16:24They must have an impact even on tough old pilots, don't they?
16:28Absolutely.
16:31It's only natural that when we see these things
16:33that we feel that we'd like to contribute to do something about it,
16:36and our job is to stand by to conduct those air operations if required.
16:40A night that brought the air war into the middle of a small town
16:46called Aleksinac in southern Serbia.
16:48NATO warplanes roared overhead.
16:53The same noise they said they heard
16:55just before explosions ripped through the town centre,
16:59plunging them into darkness.
17:02Confusion and panic was reported as fires broke out.
17:06Survivors said they scrambled through debris,
17:09including a teacher and her family.
17:11It's completely inhuman, she says.
17:14I can't describe it.
17:15I saved my children.
17:17I can only hope we'll be okay.
17:19A man stares in disbelief at his own misfortune
17:22and that of his neighbours,
17:24their high-rise building ablaze.
17:28Firefighters douse the flames of Serbian homes,
17:30now abandoned.
17:32Close by, the scene of one of two direct hits in the town,
17:36an almost unrecognisable ruin
17:38with obvious signs of recent life.
17:41The two-storey dwellings were known as property numbers 56 and 58.
17:47They thought they had found all the victims,
17:50but death was still apparent.
17:52This policeman radios in the discovery of another body.
17:57There is anger and there is bewilderment here.
18:00The point of detonation is sandwiched
18:02between a block of apartments on one side
18:04and a clinic on the other.
18:06An ambulance parked in the street,
18:08while inside, windows and corridors
18:10strewn with shattered glass and splintered wood.
18:14Four bodies were in the hospital morgue,
18:16pulled from rubble, say officials,
18:18in what they describe as the worst civilian casualties
18:22since the start of NATO's attacks.
18:24But why?
18:27There's a military barracks about half a mile away, he says,
18:30maybe more.
18:31But why hit us?
18:32We're not a target.
18:34They could find no answers to that
18:36on this night of heavy NATO strikes,
18:38when Serbs here felt suffering and pain.
18:42Brent Sadler, CNN,
18:43Aleksinac, Yugoslavia.
18:45It is a closed operational base.
18:49It's NATO's biggest airfield involved in this operation.
18:53And as such, we are not allowed beyond the perimeter fence.
18:56All I can say is that with a little under half an hour to go
19:00before the Serbian unilateral ceasefire comes into effect,
19:04there is no indication here at the end of the main runway
19:07that there will be any change
19:09in what has been the operational picture here,
19:13certainly for the last two days,
19:14when clearing skies have allowed NATO's warplanes
19:17to fly day and night.
19:20This time of evening is about
19:22when the main early evening offensive gets underway.
19:26And at this time yesterday,
19:28we were seeing warplanes taking off within...
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