Non-Subscriber Extract
Control of territory
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| 24 August 2001 |
The first incident attributed to the NLA was a mortar attack on a remote Macedonian police station at Tearce on 22 January 2001, which left one policemen dead and three injured. A month later NLA units and the Macedonian police fought a two-hour gun battle in the mountain-top village of Tanusevci on the border with Kosovo in the heart of the Black Mountain region. It is believed this was an unplanned incident after a NLA column was intercepted by the Macedonian police. As fighting escalated, the NLA seized a number of villages in the area. Only around 200 NLA fighters were believed to have been involved in the fighting at this stage.
Over the next six months the NLA expanded massively as it gained control of even more territory. By mid April it overtly controlled the Black Mountain area north of Skopje, centred on the villages of Lipkovo, Slupcane and Nikustak. The heartland of the NLA is the high mountains to the west of Tetovo, along the Kosovo and Albanian borders. In July the NLA swept down from the mountains into the predominantly Albanian city of Tetovo and into the valley to the east. A string of Albanian villages rallied to the cause and NLA fighters moved on to the Zeden feature between Tetovo and Skopje, capturing the border town of Raduse. These offensives left government forces isolated in Tetovo and a number of small garrisons around the town and at Vratnica, which could only be re-supplied by helicopter.
Until the 8 August ambush the NLA chose not to cut the main Tetovo-Skopje highway, but its units demonstrated they had the ability to do so if necessary.
To conduct these operations the NLA massively expanded its force structure to absorb the new recruits entering its ranks from within Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania and the Diaspora. By early August the NLA boasted six brigades: 111, 113 and 114 Brigades were operating the Black Mountain region; 112 Brigade is in control of a number of ‘battalions’ in Tetevo; to the south, 116 Brigade is based around Gostivar, although it has not so far overtly attempted to take control of the town (which has an 80% Albanian population); while 115 Brigade is believed to be located in Albanian villages overlooking the capital, Skopje, and its vital power station. The NLA has pushed units far into the mountains south of Skopje, although they have so far not overtly declared control of territory in this strategic region.
NLA brigades are a mix of KLA veterans, who provide the command cadre and experienced fighters, and local volunteers integrated into the ranks. Local men and boys are then recruited to provide logistic support, medical help and other administrative tasks. Villagers, meanwhile, provide food for the fighters. Diaspora groups linked to localities provide the funds and expertise to buy and smuggle arms to specific brigades.
Who are the NLA?
Origins
NLA aims
Leadership and structure
The NLA arsenal
Conclusion