A claim initially published by the Serbian portal Informer on August 23, 2026 states that an incendiary device, described as a "vatrena lopta" (fireball), was launched from Kosovo territory towards Serbia, in the direction of the Brnjak area, with the aim of causing fires.
Informer presented the event categorically, calling it in the headline "terrorist attack from Kosovo territory".
What is known about this claim?
The claim was first published by Informer, citing footage and unofficial sources, and was later picked up by Blic, Alo, Serbia Today, Republika, and others. Some media outlets have already labeled the event in their headlines as a possible attack or even a “terrorist attack,” Kossev reports.
According to this report, the device was found in the village of Brnjak and, because it did not cause a fire, Inform claimed that its purpose was “apparently” to start a fire. The portal also published a video that it claims shows the “fireball” coming towards Serbian territory. Meanwhile, according to unofficial sources cited by Inform, the Novi Pazar Police and the acting prosecutor, Sanja Mrljesh, were notified of the case, who allegedly ordered an inspection of the scene.
The claim was further reinforced by statements and Bozhidar Spasic, a former member of the Serbian intelligence services, who described the device as an incendiary device and called the incident a “direct attack.” Spasic also claimed that “Albanian extremists” from Kosovo could be behind the incident.
However, these are his assessments and assumptions, and are not presented as the result of a forensic examination or official investigation.
Meanwhile, on August 24, 2026, the Kosovo Police RESPONDED to these reports by denying the claims that the device was launched from the territory of Kosovo towards Serbia. According to the reaction of the Kosovo Police, no institution in Kosovo has used such a weapon and the Kosovo Police units have not identified any case where such a device was launched or launched from the territory of Kosovo towards Serbia.
The Kosovo Police said that the reaction is being made "in order to provide accurate information and prevent the spread of misinformation", describing as untrue the claims that circulated in some Serbian media that the fire in the Brnjak area was caused by Kosovo. According to the Kosovo Police, there has been no notification from its units about any such device being thrown from the territory of Kosovo into the territory of Serbia.
In public information, there is no separate official statement from either the Serbian Ministry of Interior or the competent prosecutor's office that would confirm that the object was indeed shot from the territory of Kosovo, with what means it was shot, who shot it, or with what motive.
As a result, the claim that "an incendiary device was launched from Kosovo towards Serbia with the aim of causing fires and that this is a terrorist attack" remains unconfirmed and unsupported by sufficient evidence.
Analyze:
Inform claimed that a "fireball" was launched from Kosovo territory towards Brnjak with the intention of causing a fire, describing the event as a "terrorist attack".
However, no evidence has been presented proving the device's origin, authorship, or its connection to Kosovo.
Kosovo Police denied these claims, stating that there was no use or release of such a device from Kosovo territory.
Based on its work methodology, hibrid.info qualifies this claim as "misinformation".
Reasoning:
"Disinformation" is defined as information content that contains a "mix" of inaccurate sources or even half-truthful attributes, and that is created and/or distributed with the deliberate intention of causing harm. The motive behind the producers/distributors of disinformation content lies in achieving a political, financial, psychological or social goal.