March 24 – June 10, 1999 · Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Theater
March 24 – June 10, 1999
For 78 days, NATO aircraft struck targets across the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in the alliance's largest military operation since its founding. The campaign, named Operation Allied Force, targeted Serbian military infrastructure, air defense systems, fuel depots, bridges, and communications networks. As the bombing intensified, Serbian forces accelerated the ethnic cleansing of Kosovo, expelling over 850,000 Albanians in an attempt to pre-empt a NATO ground invasion by creating a humanitarian catastrophe that would split the alliance. NATO planners faced constant political pressure: strikes on civilian infrastructure — including the Chinese embassy, accidentally hit on May 7 — generated fierce international criticism. The campaign ended when Milošević accepted an internationally supervised withdrawal of Serbian forces from Kosovo.
Commanders