Yugoslavia NATO Bombing

Novi Sad on fire.

The NATO bombing of Yugoslavia or US codename Operation Noble Anvil was a bombing campaign carried out by the forces of NATO against the military forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) during the Kosovo War.

The goal of the operation was to end the Yugoslavian occupation of Kosovo and put an end to the war crimes that they had been carrying out on the direct orders of President Slobodan Milošević during the war, as well as begin a safe return for all those who had been displaced by Milošević's ethnic cleansing campaigns.

The bombing killed between 489 and 528 civilians, and destroyed bridges, industrial plants, public buildings, private businesses, as well as barracks and military installations. In the days after the Yugoslav army withdrew, over 164,000 Serbs (around 75%) and 24,000 Roma (around 85%) left Kosovo and many of the remaining civilians were victims of abuse. After Kosovo and other Yugoslav Wars, Serbia became home to the highest number of refugees and IDPs (including Kosovo Serbs) in Europe.

Milošević resigned from the presidency shortly after the bombing campaign ended and was indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) along with a number of other senior Yugoslav political and military figures.