The BBC's Nick Wood in Tanusevci reported that the US troops crossed the border into Macedonia during the operation, but US officers said they had occupied only parts of the village on the Kosovo side of the frontier. Macedonian Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski had earlier invited K-For into the Macedonian parts of the village. In the other major break with existing Nato policy, military planners in Brussels decided to allow Yugoslav troops back into part of the buffer zone, dividing Kosovo from the rest of Serbia, in another bid to control rebel activity. We want to prevent what can be limited, localised skirmishes becoming bigger or spilling over into the wider region. BBC Defence Correspondent Jonathan Marcus says it is a significant step for Nato.
Officials believe it is needed to combat the rebel threat.
The rebels have warned that opening the zone to Yugoslav forces will lead to a worsening of the violence. Macedonia has asked for a similar buffer zone to be created along its own border with Kosovo, but the UN Security Council rejected the idea on Wednesday. The rebels, who want to unite parts of Serbia and Macedonia where ethnic Albanians live, have attracted strong international condemnation.