The Irish commander of a multinational taskforce in Kosovo has warned that the current threat assessment is "calm" but underlying tensions remain.
Speaking after briefing Minister of State for Defence Tom Kitt, who concludes a three-day visit to the territory today, Brig Gen Gerry Hegarty said he is "preparing for the worst-case scenario and hoping for the best-case scenario" in the province.
Some 1,500 troops under his command are "more than sufficient" for what he needs to guarantee the safety of about 900,000 people living in his area of responsibility within Kosovo.
However, he has the option of calling in significant extra troops within a matter of hours should the need arise. These would be primarily drawn from existing troops stationed in the province.
When compared to the situation here three years ago, when significant riots broke out next to the Serbian enclave of Gracanica and elsewhere, he said the level of intelligence has improved significantly on the ground.
This is in part due to the development of liaison and monitoring teams who interact with local communities and who can provide early "on the ground" intelligence.
Similarly, significant emphasis has been placed on crowd control and riot training of troops, he said.
Negotiators from a troika of the US, the EU and Russia are due to report to the UN Security Council by December 10th on the outcome of ongoing discussions. These are aimed at securing agreement around a plan that would provide supervised autonomy for Kosovo.
However, agreement on the plan, put together by former Finnish prime minister Martti Athisaari, is thought to be unlikely, due to Serbian opposition.
Russia, a key ally of Serbia, has previously blocked the plan, which includes specific protections for the minority Serbian population at the United Nations.
This has raised suggestions recently that partition of the province may be an option, although both the majority ethnic Albanian population and the Serbian minority population strongly oppose such a proposition.
There have been fears that a failure to reach agreement could provoke unrest within the province.
Mr Kitt met local leaders yesterday, as well as Irish troops and humanitarian projects which they support in the province. He returns to Ireland today.