The Irish Armed Forces are monitoring the security situation in Kosovo.

The security situation in Kosovo is deteriorating, and the Armed Forces are monitoring its development after a shot was fired near peacekeepers in the northern part of the Balkan state. Within KFOR, the UN-mandated mission led by NATO, there are 13 personnel from the Irish Armed Forces, although none of the Irish soldiers are actively patrolling.

An investigation is currently underway into the shooting incident that occurred in Rožaje, a town in northern Kosovo, near a KFOR patrol. Local Serbs have been manning roadblocks for two weeks. About half of the ethnic Serbian population lives in northern Kosovo and maintains close ties with Serbia. As a result of the shooting, peacekeepers from Latvia were not harmed.

Serbia has its troops on full combat readiness along the border, despite calls from KFOR to maintain calm. Serbian officials claim that Kosovo Serbs are being persecuted by the Albanian population. They set up checkpoints earlier this month after police arrested a former Serbian police officer on charges of assault.

The Commander-in-Chief of Latvia, Lieutenant General Leonids Kalniņš, stated that the goal of the individuals who opened fire on the patrolling Latvian troops was to reduce the activity of the peacekeepers.

KFOR was established in 1999 after the military actions of Serbia, which led to a humanitarian disaster in Kosovo. UN reports estimate that 250,000 citizens were forced to leave their homes.

Ireland was one of the countries that contributed to this mission in 1999, and its presence increased in the following years. For some time, Ireland had its own area of responsibility that required active patrolling.

In response to a question about the safety of Irish personnel following the shooting, the Armed Forces stated: "The Armed Forces are aware of the current situation in Kosovo and continue to monitor it. In recent weeks, KFOR has increased its presence and patrols in northern Kosovo and continues to maintain its presence through patrolling and communication. The mentioned incident is under investigation, and no KFOR personnel were harmed."

The statement also indicates that the total number of Irish personnel in the KFOR mission is 13 from the Irish Defense Forces, out of approximately 3,700. "All these [Irish] personnel are based at the Film City camp, the KFOR headquarters in Pristina, and hold positions in the headquarters." The statement notes that "there is no longer" an Irish infantry company in KFOR, and there is no Irish international military police company or Irish national support element in Skopje, the capital of neighboring North Macedonia. "Therefore, we no longer have an Irish area of responsibility in the theater of operations in Kosovo, and we are not conducting patrols in that area," the statement says.