Today marks 26 years since the glorious battle at The Rock of Gradina”, where the fighters of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) stood firm to halt the advance of Serbian forces toward the Berisha Plateau—a region of immense strategic importance. This area was home to the KLA General Headquarters, the Military Hospital, the Provisional Government of Kosovo, the KosovaPress News Agency, Radio Kosova e Lirë, and nearly 100,000 civilians seeking shelter in the mountain passes.
On April 18, 1999, five heroes fell in this battle:
Islam Kastrati from Kishnarekë
Halim Bajraktari from Drenas
Mentor Morina from Bushat
Ramadan Bytyqi from Gjergjicë
Mentor Gashi from Llapushnik
The April battles in this zone became one of the most crucial confrontations of the liberation war—not only militarily, but also for the protection of thousands of civilians who had found refuge in the mountains.
The fighters who held the line in this battle were the living wall that stopped, at any cost, the Serbian army and police from reaching the civilian population—a sacrifice eternally engraved in the national memory.
