June 12, 1998 (by Lieven Dewitte) -
Belgian F-16 fighter aircraft will take part in a NATO exercise over the Balkans on Monday designed to step up pressure on Yugoslavia to halt the conflict in Kosovo.
Two Belgian F-16s based at Villafranca in
Italy will participate in the exercise, codenamed "Determined Falcon", to take place over Albania and th eFormer Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, which border Kosovo.
Ordered by
NATO defense ministers last Thursday, the exercise is intended as a show of strength to back Western demands that Yugoslavia end military actions against ethnic Albanians in Serbia's Kosovo province.
NATO said earlier that it would involve fighters, reconnaissance aircraft, airborne early warning planes, tankers and helicopters.
