The Insurgency in the Preševo Valley was an approximately two year-long armed conflict between 1999 and 2001, between the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the ethnic Albanian separatists of the Liberation Army of Preševo, Medveđa and Bujanovac (UÇPMB). There were instances during the conflict in which the Yugoslav government requested KFOR support in suppressing UÇPMB attacks since they could only use lightly armed military forces as part of the Kumanovo Treaty that ended the Kosovo War, which created a buffer zone between FR Yugoslavia and Kosovo.

Ridvan Qazimi, known by his nom de guerre as Lleshi, was one of the commanders of the Albanian militant group Liberation Army of Preševo, Medveđa and Bujanovac (UÇPMB). During the 1999–2001 insurgency in the Preševo Valley, he was one of the five commanders of the UÇPMB and commanded the 112th Brigade.