Kosovo - Demolition of Serb houses in North Kosovo continue Rezala: demolition larger than first reported - nine houses in a Serbian village and the village hall gone Source: KoSSev on-site reporting, 4–5 September 2026. On-site reporting on 5 September established that the 4 September operation in Rezala, on Lake Gazivode in the municipality of Zubin Potok, demolished at least nine houses and the Holy Trinity community hall, not the six structures first cited by Kosovo Police. Heavy machinery and police were still in the village the next day. No further demolition was observed then. OSCE representatives visited; EULEX personnel were also seen at the site. The difference in numbers is not a detail. It is the scale of what was taken from a small Serb village in a single day. The hall was not a holiday cottage. Villagers built it themselves and used it for almost two decades for the village slava and communal gatherings. Before the excavators arrived they removed the inventory and left an icon, a candle and a photograph of Rezala on the table. Councillor Marko Jakšić said the hall stood on his great-grandfather’s land and that a long-standing Christian community was being erased. That is the social cost: not only walls, but the one indoor place where the village still assembled. The operation sits in a longer sequence around Gazivode. In June, Ibar-Lepenac took over the Rezala summer camp with police assistance; owners said they were not notified and were shown no court order. In July, residents of about 20 houses were given seven days to prove ownership of homes they say predate the artificial lake itself. August deadlines then expired for objects in Kovače and Rezala. At least one family, the Đurićs, sought an interim court measure to stop demolition and were refused. On 4 September the machines came. Police confirmed they were assisting environmental inspectors. Access for journalists was blocked. Kosovo authorities describe the buildings as unauthorized structures on public land administered by Ibar-Lepenac. Owners and local reporting describe homes and a communal hall in a Serb village, demolished after a short paper trail and without an effective halt while disputes were still live. What cannot be disputed is the result on the ground: more houses gone than first announced, and the village’s gathering place destroyed. For the Serbian community the impact is cumulative. Property is removed faster than courts can protect it. A communal building used for religious and social life is treated as just another object. A village already thinned by emigration loses both shelter and the place that held it together. Earlier EU calls to suspend such actions until ownership is settled did not stop this round. If remaining structures are demolished before appealable decisions and interim protection are in place, the loss becomes irreversible. The EU Office in Kosovo and the German Embassy in Pristina had called for an immediate halt to any demolition of houses near Lake Gazivode. According to the EU Office, irreversible enforcement measures in the context of ongoing proceedings and contested property claims raise serious concerns for the rule of law.  The 5 September count is based on KoSSev’s physical inspection, not a revised official inventory. OSCE and EULEX have not yet published findings from their visit. That is the opening that still exists: a complete list of each demolished structure and the legal instrument for it; confirmation of what the missions observed on notice, remedies and police role; and a halt on further demolition until affected families have a real chance to challenge what is being done to their homes. #Kosovo #HumanRights