Behind Rebel Lines

The lights of Skopje's international airport twinkled invitingly on the valley floor, plainly visible to a small band of ethnic Albanian rebels as they wound their way up a rutted mountain track one night last week. In tow were six scraggly horses carrying 1,500 crisp new uniforms, food, and a sack full of mobile phones destined for new positions 10 km from the Macedonian capital. "Boom!" whispered a teenage recruit pointing excitedly at the runway below. "Boom, boom!" Later an irascible local commander in a camouflage T shirt and red beret, with the unsettling habit of firing his automatic weapon into...