Operation MH

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Operation MH
Part of the 2001 insurgency in Macedonia and Battle of Tetovo
File:Одлука за воена операција МХ-Тетово 2001.jpg
Date25–27 March 2001
Location
Tetovo, Brodec, Gajre, Šipkovica, Lisec, Džepčište, Popova Šapka, Ǵermo, Macedonia
Result Macedonian government victory
Territorial
changes
  • Macedonian government regains control over all of Tetovo region-held NLA territory at that time[a]
  • Macedonian security forces seize weapons, ammunition and uniforms[6]
Belligerents
File:Flag of North Macedonia.svg Macedonia File:Uck Nla logo.svg National Liberation Army
Commanders and leaders
File:Coat of arms of the President of Macedonia.svg Boris Trajkovski
Army of the Republic of Macedonia Pande Petrovski
File:Coat of arms of the Macedonian Police.png Ljube Boškoski		 File:Uck Nla logo.svg Gëzim Ostreni
File:Uck Nla logo.svg Samidin Xhezairi
File:Uck Nla logo.svg Rahim Beqiri
File:Uck Nla logo.svg Hamdi Nëdrecaj
Units involved
Strength
Army of the Republic of MacedoniaFile:Coat of arms of the Macedonian Police.png 200+ soldiers and policemen[10][5]
Army of the Republic of Macedonia 2+ T-55 tanks[11]
Army of the Republic of Macedonia APCs[12]
Army of the Republic of Macedonia 2 MI-24 helicopters[5]		 File:Uck Nla logo.svg 300–700 militants[5]
Casualties and losses
Army of the Republic of Macedonia 2 soldiers wounded[13]
Army of the Republic of Macedonia 1 APC lightly damaged[14]
File:Coat of arms of the Macedonian Police.png 1 policeman wounded[15]		 File:Uck Nla logo.svg Unknown
20 Albanian civilians wounded[16]

Operation MH (Macedonian: Операција МХ) was the first major offensive by the combined forces of the Macedonian Army and police forces in the 2001 insurgency in Macedonia.[needs context] The goal of the operation was to dislodge the NLA forces which were entrenched in Tetovo and the hills and villages in its vicinity.[17]

Prelude

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Weeks prior Albanian rebels had taken control of the Tetovo fortress and several villages in the Tetovo municipality where sporadic fighting occurred between Macedonian security forces and Albanian rebels. The government conducted so called "search and sweep operations" that lead to several arrests.[18]

Execution of the Operation MH

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The operation started at 7am on 25 March with an hour long artillery barrage followed by Macedonian Army units moving in to encircle the villages held by the rebels. Helicopters covered the retreat and reinforcement routes that lead to Kosovo, during the first phase of the battle stiff resistance was encountered in the village of Gajre and Šipkovica which was overcome with the assistance of police special forces and fresh reserves. The fall of Šipkovica and Gajre opened the path for the capture of the Tetovo fortress which was accomplished by the Macedonian Special Forces.[19][20] According to Macedonian sources the rebels were fleeing in panic across the mountains leaving weapons and uniforms behind while Albanian sources called it a tactical retreat.[1]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Sources:[1][2][3][4][5]

References

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  10. ^ "In pictures: Macedonian ground offensive". BBC News. 25 March 2001
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