KLA forces arrested the monks, looted the monastery and desecrated the church.
The Zociste Monastery was situated about five miles outside of Orahovac, a town in western http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=702 filled a special role in the spiritual life of those in the region. They brought their sick to the church, hoping they might benefit from the prayer of the monks and the presence of relics.
On June 24, 1998, http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=2834) leader. The leader told Holbrooke the KLA — a terrorist organization formed in 1996 to resist Serbian law in Kosovo — would fight until Kosovo attained independence. The KLA had shown surprising strength in the two years since it first appeared, claiming responsibility for many coordinated attacks on policemen and Serb civilians. In the spring of 1998, ethnic Albanian support of the KLA increased after Serbian forces failed to overrun their strategic compounds. As numbers swelled, the KLA set up barricades around target cities and prepared for an offensive. An iconic photograph showed Holbrooke with a leader of the KLA, convincing the organization that the United States would be on their side, and the military offensive commenced in earnest.
By mid-July, the KLA had captured Orahovac. In two nearby villages, all Serb males were kidnapped and later found dead. The Serbian military responded with force, regaining the city, driving the KLA back to hidden outposts and forcing them to readopt guerilla tactics. In September, even though the Zociste Monastery served both Serbs and ethnic Albanians throughout the fighting, KLA forces arrested the monks, looted the monastery and desecrated the church.
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