1999 NATO Bombing of Novi Sad - The Views of The Respective Parties

The Views of The Respective Parties

The bombing is viewed by many as being a war crime (See: Legitimacy of NATO bombing of Yugoslavia).

Novi Sad residents point out that the irony that Novi Sad was so heavily targeted by NATO also lies in the fact that during the time of the bombing, the city was ruled by the local Democratic Opposition, which was against the regime in Belgrade. Therefore, the citizens of Novi Sad were not able to understand why they had to pay so large price for the events in Kosovo, which were not caused by them.

A press release one year on from the bombing by then NATO Secretary General Robertson, claims that NATO encountered complications from Yugoslav military use of civilian buildings and human shields. Nato officials have "expressed deep regret at any civilian casualties it caused", . NATO claims that the bombing of targets such as bridges was aimed at impairing the Yugoslav army's command and control structure. However, the efficacy of the campaign and choice of targets was brought into question by human rights groups, after bridges of no conceivable strategic relevance to the military situation in Kosovo were bombed, including a bridge which led to Hungary, a NATO country. MAICL argued that the civilian deaths caused were clearly disproportionate to the military benefits in response to NATO's justification of actions.