Tanket ne kufi 1999/ Albanian tanks at the border with former Yougoslavia 1999

Imazhe te levizjes se mjeteve te renda te Ushtrise Shqiptare ne kohen e Luftes se Kosoves. Pas disa sulmeve me artileri brenda territorit tone, Qeveria Shqiptare vendosi dergimin e tankeve dhe mjeteve te tjera te blinduara ne ndihme te Divizionit te Kuksit qe ne ate kohe mbulonte gjithe zonen e kufirit me ish Jugosllavine.
Si nje tregim force kunder armiqve serbe, Ushtria zhvilloi stervitjen me trupa 'Drini i Bardhe', duke perdorur qitje reale ne poligon. Suksesi i goditjes se objektivave arriti shkallen 90% qe ishte shume i larte, sidomos kur Ushtria Shqiptare vinte pas shkaterrimit fatal te vitit 1997.

In early 1998, as tensions increased in Kosovo, it became increasingly difficult for the Albanian Army to monitor the country's 140-kilometre (87 mi) border with the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and cope with the steady influx of Kosovo Albanian refugees into the country.[7] Yugoslav army units controlled the border in a few areas, but generally relied on the remote mountainous terrain to do their work for them. Many Yugoslav border units suffered from lack of manpower, the wars in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia having seriously damaged their resources. The morale of soldiers was low, with food often poor, and spare parts for army and police equipment and supplies were difficult to obtain.[8]

Albanian authorities were concerned with attempts by Serbia to implicate Albania as a supporter of terrorism.[7] The Albanian Army had an estimated 4,000–6,000 soldiers, and Yugoslavia was said to have "little regard" for the country's military.[9]

The Kosovo War was a conflict between the government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) and the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). The war caused thousands of Kosovo Albanians to join the KLA ranks. More than 500,000 ethnic Albanian refugees fled their homes to escape Yugoslav Army reprisals. Meanwhile, the KLA began to recruit in the refugee camps. There had been fighting along the border between the KLA and Yugoslav forces where KLA troops had infiltrated into Kosovo. The subsequent incursion by the FRY could have been in response to KLA actions in the area, according to Albanian police.[6]

Relations between the FRY and Albania had been strained as 300,000 ethnic Albanians had fled into Albania itself. The Yugoslavs had been angered over Albania's support of NATO airstrikes and its sheltering of KLA militants. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) had reported previous Yugoslav Army incursions into Albanian territory. The border was lightly defended by the Albanian Army which was ordered not to fire back after a Yugoslav Army attack. A KLA commander reported that rebel forces had crossed over into Kosovo near Tropojë, a KLA stronghold, in the days before the attack, this incursion was confirmed by an OSCE monitor.[6]

Incident
From their positions on the Yugoslavian side of the border, soldiers of the Yugoslav Army fired at least 10 shells on the town of Krumë just before midnight, where refugees from Kosovo had taken shelter.[5] Albanian Foreign Ministry spokesman Sokol Gjoka stated that the incident did not result in casualties on either side, and that three houses had been destroyed in the fighting.