They were probably prepared to deploy for some time (assuming this was 1998 and not 1997): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albanian_Civil_War
They landed a transport plane on an airport. That's not a feat of military might. It's one of having the same blue/yellow emblem somewhere on your plane as on the 10.5 million cartons of infant nutrition you distributed the year before.
Some "shots over their heads" may have been useful in discouraging individual idiots. But the only reason there was anybody left to rescue, and the reason they were allowedd to succeed, is that neither side of the conflict had any actual interest in harming them.
rogue, not rouge which would imply these actors have beautified themselves with cosmetics
That system likely provided these SAS operators both with direct support here (like briefings on what route to take travelling, who would and wouldn't be hostile, etc.), and with the indirect support inherent in anyone who hoped to end up controlling Albania not wanting the British as an enemy. I'd guess the operators felt appreciation for that support and pride in their own contributions to that system, and no diminution of their individual achievements.
I was, however, dismissive of HN warriors with World-War 3 lingo of "hot zones" and "threat vectors" and "secondary actors", tom-clancying their way to such magnificient insights as:
> Going into any hot zone as a small squad is always a big deal