VIDEO: Serbs Build Barricades from Trucks in Kosovo

Videos have emerged on social media showing Serbs constructing barricades using trucks in Kosovo Mitrovica. These barricades began to be erected after reports indicated that 1,500 members of Kosovo's security forces could enter the northern regions of Kosovo and Metohija.

Previously, Belgrade announced its readiness to intervene if Kosovo authorities conducted military operations against Serbs residing in the region. On Monday evening, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić ordered the military to be put on high alert, according to Defense Minister Miloš Vučević.

“As supreme commander, the President of Serbia has ordered that the Serbian army be at the highest state of combat readiness, prepared for the use of military force,” Vučević told the Serbian Tanjug news agency. The defense minister noted that the president's order to increase combat readiness was issued in light of the situation in the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija and the preparation of Kosovo's Albanian authorities for an attack on Serbs and the forcible removal of the barricades.

Protests by Serb residents in northern Kosovo continue, sparked by the arrest of a former police officer of Serbian ethnicity. This has severely strained relations between the authorities and the Serb minority in Kosovo. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008 with a majority Albanian population's support. The West backed Kosovo during the 1998-99 war, when NATO forces entered the region to ensure the physical safety of its residents. Kosovo is not a member of the UN. It has been recognized by around 110 countries, but Serbia, Russia, China, and several others have rejected this recognition. Five EU countries—Spain, Greece, Romania, Slovakia, and Cyprus—do not recognize Kosovo's independence.