Two months ago today, NATO launched Operation Allied Force against Yugoslavia. The goal was to end a year-long crackdown on ethnic Albanians in Kosovo and give political autonomy to the province. More than 15,000 bombs and missiles have hit targets in Kosovo and the rest of Yugoslavia. Bridges have been blasted off their piers, power plants leveled, fuel depots incinerated and MiG jets destroyed in the air and on the ground. However, President Slobodan Milosevic has not been coerced into signing a peace pact.
Refugees continue to flow by the thousands out of Kosovo, Serbia's rebellious southern province.
The Yugoslav military has continued to reinforce its units in Kosovo, despite fuel shortages and other problems caused by NATO's bombardment. NATO officials point to dissent within Yugoslavia, which occasionally has had anti-Milosevic elements. But the Yugoslav leader appears firmly in control of the government and the military. He has been able to fire dissenting officials at will, and his opponents say the NATO bombing has caused Serbs to rally around him. The NATO air campaign is the largest in the world since the Persian Gulf War, and it keeps growing.