US Sending Javelin Anti-Tank Missiles to Kosovo in Attempt to Set Balkans on Fire

The State Department has approved the delivery of $75 million-worth of Javelin anti-tank missiles to the breakaway Serbian region of Kosovo, with the move coming amid rising regional tensions and an ongoing US push to destabilize the Balkan nation.

“All these systems are acquired to establish sufficient capacity for Kosovo to defend itself in the event of an invasion – or any other threat,” Kosovo defense minister Ejup Maqedonci told Bloomberg on Wednesday.

Maqedonci did not elaborate how Serbia could “threaten” to “invade” its own province – which unilaterally proclaimed independence in 2008, nine years after Kosovo’s occupation by NATO in 1999 following a 78-day bombing campaign targeting Yugoslavia. Serbia and dozens of countries around the world, including Russia, never recognized Kosovo’s 'independence'.

Kosovar separatist authorities expect to receive some 24 Javelin launchers and 246 missiles in total. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic called the planned transfer a “great disappointment for Serbia” but said Belgrade will still try to “work on preserving Serbian-American relations.”

Kosovo’s military, formally called the ‘Kosovo Security Force’, is entirely dependent on the United States, Germany, Turkiye, other NATO countries and Israel for the vast majority of its military equipment. Other arms already delivered include Humvees, Mercedes G Wagon and M1117 Guardian transports, M4A1 and Hechkler & Koch assault rifles, Mk 19 grenade launchers, M72 LAW and OMTAS anti-tank weapons, and RQ-20 and Bayraktar TB2 drones.