Serbia again threatens armed intervention in Kosovo as tension escalates

By DUSAN STOJANOVIC
Associated Press

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbia has reiterated a threat to intervene militarily in its former province of Kosovo if NATO-led peacekeepers there fail to protect minority Serbs from what Belgrade calls the terrorist threat of Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian authorities. In a brief televised address on Friday, the Serbian army chief-of-staff said that the military stands ready to fulfil its tasks in accordance to the Serbian constitution and upon orders from Serbia’s president. Serbia has put its troops on the border with Kosovo on the highest state of alert amid a series of recent clashes between Kosovo Serbs on one side and Kosovo police and NATO-led peacekeepers on the other. In recent weeks, NATO has sent in reinforcements amid fears of an open clash between ethnic Albanians and Serbs.