1992 hospital in 1992 The war in Bosnia escalated in April. On 3 April, the
Battle of Kupres began between the JNA and a combined HV-HVO force that ended in a JNA victory. On 6 April, Serb forces began shelling
Sarajevo, and in the next two days crossed the
Drina from
Serbia proper and besieged Bosniak-majority
Zvornik,
Višegrad and
Foča. After the capture of Zvornik, Bosnian Serb troops killed several hundred Bosniaks and forced tens of thousands to flee. All of Bosnia was engulfed in war by mid-April. On 23 April, the JNA evacuated its personnel by helicopter from the barracks in
Čapljina, which had been blockaded since 4 March. There were efforts to halt violence. On 27 April, the Bosnian government ordered the JNA to be put under civilian control or expelled, which was followed by conflicts in early May between the two. Prijedor was taken over by Serbs on 30 April. On 2 May, the Green Berets and local gang members fought back a disorganised Serb attack aimed at cutting Sarajevo in two. On 3 May, Izetbegović was kidnapped at the Sarajevo airport by JNA officers, and used to gain safe passage of JNA troops from downtown Sarajevo. However, Bosnian forces
attacked the departing JNA convoy, which embittered all sides. A ceasefire and agreement on evacuation of the JNA was signed on 18 May, and on 20 May the Bosnian presidency declared the JNA an occupation force. The
Army of Republika Srpska was newly established and put under the command of General
Ratko Mladić, in a new phase of the war. Shellings on Sarajevo on 24, 26, 28 and 29 May were attributed to Mladić by UN Secretary-General
Boutros Boutros-Ghali. Civilian casualties of
a 27 May shelling led to Western intervention, in the form of sanctions imposed on 30 May through
United Nations Security Council Resolution 757. Bosnian forces attacked JNA barracks in the city, which was followed by heavy shelling. On 5 and 6 June the last JNA personnel left the city during street fighting and shelling. The 20 June ceasefire, executed in order for UN takeover of the Sarajevo airport for humanitarian flights, was broken as both sides battled for the territory between the city and airport. The airport crisis led to Boutros-Ghali's ultimatum on 26 June, that the Serbs stop attacks on the city, allow the UN to take the airport, and place their heavy weapons under UN supervision. Meanwhile, media reported that Bush considered the use of force in Bosnia. World public opinion was "decisively and permanently against the Serbs" following media reports on the sniping and shelling of Sarajevo. shooting a Bosniak man in
Brčko in 1992 Outside of Sarajevo, the combatants' successes varied greatly in 1992. Serbs had seized Bosniak-majority cities along the Drina and Sava rivers and expelled their Muslim population within months. A joint Bosnian–HVO offensive in May, having taken advantage of the confusion following JNA withdrawal, reversed Serb advances into
Posavina and central Bosnia. The offensive continued southwards, besieging Doboj, thereby cutting off Serb forces in
Bosanska Krajina from
Semberija and Serbia. In mid-May, Srebrenica was retaken by Bosnian forces under
Naser Orić. Serb forces suffered a costly defeat in eastern Bosnia in May, when according to Serbian accounts Avdo Palić's force was ambushed near Srebrenica, killing 400. From May to August,
Goražde was besieged by the VRS, until the siege was broken by the ARBiH on 1 September. In April 1992, the
Croatian Defence Council (HVO) entered Orašje and, according to Croatian sources, began a campaign of harassment against Serb civilians, including torture, rape and murder. On 15 May 1992,
a JNA column was ambushed in Tuzla. 92nd Motorised JNA Brigade received orders to leave Tuzla and Bosnia-Herzegovina, and enter Serbia. An agreement was made with the Bosnian government that JNA units would be allowed until 19 May to leave Bosnia peacefully. Despite the agreement, the convoy was attacked in Tuzla's Brčanska Malta district with rifles and rocket launchers; mines were placed along its route. 52 JNA soldiers were killed and over 40 were wounded, most ethnic Serbs. region, in
Manjača camp. The
Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was admitted as a member state of the UN on 22 May 1992. World public opinion was shaken by the existence of concentration camps established by the
Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) and the authorities of
Republika Srpska (RS), where thousands of Bosniak and Croat civilians were tortured, and killed. Following the
occupation of the Prijedor region, Muslim civilians were captured and transported to camps such as
Omarska,
Trnopolje,
Keraterm,
Manjača, where they endured months of inhumane treatment and torture. A significant number were killed or disappeared, marking the gravest crime in the war until the
Srebrenica genocide 3 years later. Other camps for non-Serbs were established throughout Bosnia in the
campaign of ethnic cleansing, including
Luka,
Liplje,
Batković,
Sušica,
Uzamnica, as well as camps for the rape of women in
Foča and
Višegrad. Bosniaks and Croats set up camps, with significantly fewer prisoners. The ICTY convicted about 20 individuals for crimes in these camps. , near
Konjic, presented as evidence in the Mucić et al. trial From May to December 1992, the
Bosnian Ministry of the Interior (BiH MUP), HVO and later the
Bosnian Territorial Defence Forces (TO RBiH) operated the
Čelebići camp. It was used to detain Bosnian Serb
prisoners of war, many were elderly, arrested during operations intended to de-block routes to Sarajevo and
Mostar in May 1992 which had earlier been blocked by Serb forces. Of the 700 prisoners, at least 13 died while in captivity. Detainees were subjected to torture, sexual assaults, beatings and other cruel and inhuman treatment. Certain prisoners were shot, or beaten to death. On 6 May 1992, Mate Boban met with Radovan Karadžić in
Graz, Austria, where they reached
an agreement for a ceasefire and discussed a demarcation between a Croat and Serb territorial unit, in Bosnia and Herzegovina. However, the ceasefire was broken the following day, when the JNA and Bosnian Serb forces mounted an attack on Croat-held positions in Mostar. In June 1992, Bosnian Serb forces attacked and pounded the Bosnian village of Žepa, which would lead to the 3-year long
siege of Žepa. By June 1992, refugees and internally displaced persons had reached 2.6 million. By September 1992, Croatia had accepted 335,985 refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina, mostly Bosniak civilians (excluding men of military age). The number of refugees significantly strained the Croatian economy and infrastructure. Then-U.S. Ambassador to Croatia,
Peter Galbraith, put the number of refugees in Croatia into a proper perspective in an interview on 8 November 1993. He said the situation would be the equivalent of the US taking in 30,000,000 refugees. The number of Bosnian refugees in Croatia, was surpassed only by the number of the internally displaced persons within Bosnia and Herzegovina itself, at 588,000. Serbia took in 252,130 refugees from Bosnia, while other former Yugoslav republics received a total of 148,657 people. , fought between the VRS and the HV-HVO In June 1992, the Bosnian Serbs started
Operation Corridor in northern Bosnia against HV–HVO forces, to secure an open road between Belgrade, Banja Luka, and Knin. The reported deaths of 12 newborn babies in Banja Luka hospital due to a shortage of
bottled oxygen for
incubators was cited as an immediate cause for the action, but the veracity of these deaths has been questioned. Borisav Jović, a contemporary high-ranking Serbian official and member of the
Yugoslav Presidency, has claimed the report was
propaganda, stating that Banja Luka had 2 bottled oxygen production plants in its immediate vicinity and was self-reliant in that respect. Operation Corridor began on 14 June 1992, when the
16th Krajina Motorized Brigade of the VRS, aided by a VRS tank company from
Doboj, began the offensive near
Derventa. The VRS captured
Modriča on 28 June,
Derventa on 4–5 July, and
Odžak on 12 July. The HV–HVO forces were reduced to isolated positions around
Bosanski Brod and
Orašje, which held out during August and September. The VRS managed to break through their lines in early October and capture Bosanski Brod. Most remaining Croat forces withdrew north to Croatia. The HV–HVO continued to hold the Orašje enclave and were able to repel an VRS attack in November. On 21 June 1992, Bosniak forces entered the Bosnian Serb village of Ratkovići near Srebrenica and murdered 24 Serb civilians. In June 1992, the UNPROFOR, originally deployed in Croatia, had its mandate extended into Bosnia and Herzegovina, initially to protect the Sarajevo International Airport. In September, the role of UNPROFOR was expanded to protect humanitarian aid and assist relief delivery in the whole of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as to help protect civilian refugees when required by the
Red Cross. On 12 August 1992, the name of the Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was changed to Republika Srpska (RS). By November 1992, of eastern Bosnia was under Muslim control.
Croat–Bosniak relations in late 1992 The Croat–Bosniak alliance, formed at the beginning of the war, was often not harmonious. The existence of two parallel commands caused problems in coordinating the two armies against the VRS. An attempt to create a joint HVO and TO military headquarters in mid-April failed. On 21 July 1992, the
Agreement on Friendship and Cooperation was signed by Tuđman and Izetbegović, establishing a military cooperation between the two armies. At a session held on 6 August, the Bosnian Presidency accepted HVO as an integral part of the Bosnian armed forces. Despite these attempts, tensions steadily increased throughout the second half of 1992. An armed conflict occurred in Busovača in early May and another one on 13 June. On 19 June, a conflict between the units of the TO on one side, and HVO and HOS units on the other side broke out in Novi Travnik. Incidents were also recorded in Konjic in July, and in Kiseljak and the Croat settlement of Stup in Sarajevo during August. On 14 September, the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina declared the proclamation of Herzeg-Bosnia unconstitutional. On 18 October, a dispute over a petrol station near
Novi Travnik that was shared by both armies escalated into armed conflict in the town centre. The situation worsened after HVO Commander Ivica Stojak was killed near Travnik on 20 October. On the same day, fighting escalated on an ARBiH roadblock set on the main road through the Lašva Valley. Spontaneous clashes spread throughout the region and resulted in almost 50 casualties until a ceasefire was negotiated by the UNPROFOR on 21 October. On 23 October, a major battle between the ARBiH and the HVO started in the town of
Prozor in northern Herzegovina and resulted in an HVO victory. On 29 October, the
VRS captured Jajce. The town was defended by both the HVO and the ARBiH, but the lack of cooperation, as well as an advantage in troop size and firepower for the VRS, led to the fall of the town. Croat refugees from Jajce fled to Herzegovina and Croatia, while around 20,000 Bosniak refugees settled in Travnik, Novi Travnik, Vitez, Busovača, and villages near Zenica. Despite the October confrontations, and with each side blaming the other for the fall of Jajce, there were no large-scale clashes and a general military alliance was still in effect. Tuđman and Izetbegović met in Zagreb on 1 November 1992 and agreed to establish a Joint Command of HVO and ARBiH.
1993 , which would have established 10 provinces On 7 January 1993, Orthodox
Christmas Day, 8th Operational Unit Srebrenica, a unit of the ARBiH under the command of
Naser Orić,
attacked the village of Kravica near
Bratunac. 46 Serbs died in the attack: 35 soldiers and 11 civilians. 119 Serb civilians and 424 Serb soldiers died in
Bratunac during the war. On 8 January 1993, Serb forces killed the deputy prime minister of the RBiH
Hakija Turajlić after stopping the UN convoy transporting him from the airport. On 16 January 1993, soldiers of the ARBiH
attacked the Bosnian Serb village of Skelani, near
Srebrenica. 69 people were killed, 185 were wounded.
Peace plans were proposed by the UN, US and European Community (EC), but they had little impact on the war. These included the
Vance-Owen Peace Plan, revealed in January 1993. The plan was presented by UN Special Envoy
Cyrus Vance and EC representative
David Owen. It envisioned Bosnia and Herzegovina as a decentralised state with ten autonomous provinces. On 22 February 1993, the
United Nations Security Council passed
Resolution 808 "that an international tribunal shall be established for the prosecution of persons responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law". On 15–16 May, the Vance-Owen peace plan was
rejected in a referendum. The peace plan was viewed by some as one of the factors leading to the escalation of the Croat–Bosniak conflict in central Bosnia. On 31 March 1993, the Security Council issued
Resolution 816, calling on member states to enforce a no-fly zone over Bosnia-Herzegovina. On 12 April 1993, NATO commenced
Operation Deny Flight to enforce this no-fly zone. On 25 May 1993 the
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was formally established by
United Nations Security Council Resolution 827. In late July, representatives of Bosnia's three warring factions entered into a new round of negotiations. On 20 August, UN mediators
Thorvald Stoltenberg and
David Owen, showed a map that would set the stage for Bosnia to be partitioned into 3 ethnic states. Bosnian-Serbs would be given 52% of Bosnia's territory, Muslims 30% and Bosnian-Croats 18%. Alija Izetbegović rejected the plan on 29 August.
Outbreak of the Croat–Bosniak War . in 1993, during the
Croat–Bosniak War Much of 1993 was dominated by the
Croat–Bosniak War. In early January, the HVO and the ARBiH clashed in
Gornji Vakuf in central Bosnia. A temporary ceasefire was reached after days of fighting, with UNPROFOR mediation. The war spread from Gornji Vakuf into
Busovača in the second half of January. Busovača was the main intersection point of the lines of communication in the
Lašva Valley. By 26 January, the ARBiH seized control of villages in the area, including
Kaćuni and
Bilalovac on the Busovača–Kiseljak road, thus isolating Kiseljak from Busovača. In the Kiseljak area, the ARBiH secured the villages northeast of the town of Kiseljak, but most of the municipality and the town itself remained in HVO control. On 26 January, six POWs and a Serb civilian were killed by the ARBiH in the village of Dusina, north of Busovača. The fighting in Busovača also led to Bosniak civilian casualties. On 30 January, ARBiH and HVO leaders met in
Vitez, together with representatives from UNPROFOR and other foreign observers, and signed a ceasefire in the area of central Bosnia, which came into effect the following day. The situation was still tense so
Enver Hadžihasanović, commander of ARBiH's
3rd Corps, and
Tihomir Blaškić, commander of HVO's Operative Zone Central Bosnia, had a meeting on 13 February where a joint ARBiH-HVO commission was formed to resolve incidents. The January ceasefire in central Bosnia held through to early April, despite minor incidents. The Croats attributed the escalation of the conflict to the increased Islamic policy of the Bosniaks, while Bosniaks accused the Croat side of separatism.
Central Bosnia The beginning of April was marked by incidents in central Bosnia between Bosniak and Croat civilians and soldiers, including assaults, murders and armed confrontations. The most serious were the kidnapping of four members of the HVO outside
Novi Travnik, and of HVO commander Živko Totić near Zenica by
mujahideen. The ARBiH representatives denied any involvement and a joint ARBiH-HVO commission was formed to investigate. The HVO personnel were subsequently exchanged in May for POWs that were arrested by the HVO. The April incidents escalated into an armed conflict on 15 April in the area of Vitez, Busovača, Kiseljak and Zenica. The outnumbered HVO in the Zenica municipality was quickly defeated, followed by an exodus of Croat civilians. In the Busovača municipality, the ARBiH gained some ground and inflicted heavy casualties on the HVO, but the HVO held the town of Busovača and the Kaonik intersection between Busovača and Vitez. The ARBiH failed to cut the HVO held Kiseljak enclave into smaller parts and isolate the town of Fojnica from Kiseljak. Many Bosniak civilians were detained or forced to leave Kiseljak. In the Vitez area, Blaškić used his limited forces to carry out spoiling attacks on the ARBiH, thus preventing the ARBiH from cutting of the Travnik–Busovača road and seizing the SPS explosives factory in Vitez. On 16 April, the HVO launched a spoiling attack on Ahmići, east of Vitez. After the attacking units breached the ARBiH lines and entered the village, groups of irregular HVO units went from house to house, burning them and killing civilians. When Croat forces arrived in Ahmići, they left all Croats alone, and massacred the Bosniaks who could not flee in time. drawn from the
British Army, under the command of Colonel
Bob Stewart. The Bosnian Government made a monument dedicated to all 116 victims. On 24 April,
mujahideen attacked the
Miletići northeast of Travnik and killed four Croat civilians. The battles of Konjic and Jablanica lasted until May, with the ARBiH taking control of both towns and nearby villages. By mid-April, Mostar had become a divided city with the majority-Croat western part dominated by the HVO, and the majority-Bosniak eastern part dominated by the ARBiH. The
Battle of Mostar began on 9 May when both the east and west parts of the city came under artillery fire. Street battles followed, despite a ceasefire signed on 13 May by Milivoj Petković and Sefer Halilović, until 21 May. The HVO established prison camps in
Dretelj near Čapljina and in
Heliodrom, while the ARBiH formed prison camps in
Potoci and in a school in eastern Mostar. The battle was renewed on 30 June. The ARBiH secured the northern approaches to Mostar and the east of the city, but their advance to the south was repelled by the HVO.
June–July Offensives ,
Vitez and
Busovača In the first week of June, the ARBiH launched the
offensive in Travnik, attacking the HVO headquarters and units positioned on the front lines against the VRS. After three days of street fighting the outnumbered HVO forces were defeated, with thousands of Croat civilians and soldiers fleeing to nearby Serb-held territory as they were cut off from HVO-held positions. The ARBiH offensive continued east of Travnik to secure the road to Zenica, which was achieved by 14 June. On 8 June, 24 Croat civilians and POWs were killed by
mujahideen near the village of Bikoši. A similar development took place in Novi Travnik. On 9 June, the ARBiH attacked HVO units positioned east of the town, facing the VRS in Donji Vakuf, and the next day fighting followed in Novi Travnik. By 15 June, the ARBiH secured the area northwest of the town, while the HVO kept the northeast part of the municipality and the town of Novi Travnik. The battle continued into July with only minor changes on the front lines. The HVO in the town of Kakanj was overran in mid June and around 13–15,000 Croat refugees fled to Kiseljak and Vareš. In the Kiseljak enclave, the HVO held off an attack on
Kreševo, but lost Fojnica on 3 July. On 24 June, the
Battle of Žepče began that ended with an ARBiH defeat on 30 June. In late July the ARBiH
seized control of Bugojno, leading to the departure of 15,000 Croats. A prison camp was established in the football stadium, where around 800 Croats were sent. At the beginning of September, the ARBiH launched an operation known as ''
Operation Neretva '93'' against the HVO in Herzegovina and central Bosnia, on a 200 km long front. It was one of their largest offensives in 1993. The ARBiH expanded its territory west of Jablanica and secured the road to eastern Mostar, while the HVO kept the area of Prozor and secured its forces rear in western Mostar. During the night of 8/9 September, at least 13 Croat civilians were killed by the ARBiH in the
Grabovica massacre. 29 Croat civilians and one
POW were killed in the
Uzdol massacre on 14 September. On 23 October, 37 Bosniaks were killed by the HVO in the
Stupni Do massacre. This event served as the immediate pretext for an ARBiH
offensive against the HVO-held Vareš enclave at the beginning of November. Croat civilians and soldiers abandoned Vareš on 3 November and fled to Kiseljak. The ARBiH entered Vareš on the following day, which was looted.
May–June 1993 UN Safe Areas extension In an attempt to protect civilians, the role of UNPROFOR was extended in May 1993 to protect the "safe havens" the UN Security Council had declared around Sarajevo,
Goražde,
Srebrenica,
Tuzla,
Žepa and
Bihać in
Resolution 824 of 6 May 1993. On 4 June 1993 the UN Security Council passed
Resolution 836 authorising use of force by UNPROFOR in the protection of the safe zones. On 15 June 1993,
Operation Sharp Guard, a naval blockade in the
Adriatic Sea by NATO and the
Western European Union, began and continued until it was lifted in June 1996 on termination of the UN arms embargo. Between 30 March and 23 April 1994, the Serbs launched another major offensive against the town with the primary objective of overrunning Goražde. On 9 April 1994, the
Secretary General of the UN, citing
Security Resolution 836, threatened airstrikes on the Serbian forces which were attacking the Goražde enclave. For the next two days,
NATO planes carried out air strikes against Serb tanks and outposts. However, these attacks did little to stop the overwhelming Bosnian Serb Army.
Markale massacre during the
Siege of Sarajevo On 5 February 1994
Sarajevo suffered its deadliest single attack of the entire
siege with the
first Markale massacre, when a 120 millimeter artillery shell landed in the centre of the crowded marketplace, killing 68 people and wounding another 144. On 6 February, UN
Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali formally requested NATO to confirm that future requests for air strikes would be carried out immediately. On 9 February 1994,
NATO authorised the Commander of Allied Forces Southern Europe (CINCSOUTH), US Admiral Jeremy Boorda, to launch
air strikes—at the request of the UN—against artillery and mortar positions in or around Sarajevo determined by UNPROFOR to be responsible for attacks against civilian targets. Only Greece failed to support the use of air strikes, but did not veto the proposal.
NATO also issued an ultimatum to the Bosnian Serbs demanding the removal of heavy weapons around Sarajevo by midnight of 20–21 February, or they would face air strikes. On 12 February, Sarajevo enjoyed its first casualty free day since April 1992. The large-scale removal of Bosnian-Serb heavy weapons began on 17 February 1994.
Washington Agreement The Croat-Bosniak war ended with the signing of a ceasefire agreement between the HVO Chief of Staff, general
Ante Roso, and the ARBiH Chief of Staff, general
Rasim Delić, on 23 February 1994 in Zagreb. The agreement went into effect on 25 February. A peace agreement known as the
Washington Agreement, mediated by the US, was concluded on 2 March by representatives of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Herzeg-Bosnia. The agreement was signed on 18 March 1994 in Washington. Under this agreement, the combined territory held by the HVO and the ARBiH was divided into autonomous cantons within the
Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Tuđman and Izetbegović also signed a preliminary agreement on a confederation between Croatia and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Croat-Bosniak alliance was renewed, although the issues dividing them were not resolved. The first military effort coordinated between the HVO and the ARBiH following the Washington Agreement was the
advance towards Kupres, which was retaken from the VRS on 3 November 1994. On 29 November, the HV and the HVO initiated
Operation Winter '94 in southwestern Bosnia. After a month of fighting, Croat forces had taken around of VRS-held territory and directly threatened the main supply route between Republika Srpska and
Knin, the capital of Republic of Serbian Krajina. The primary objective of relieving pressure on the Bihać pocket was not achieved, although the ARBiH repelled VRS attacks on the enclave.
UNPROFOR and NATO " in Sarajevo
NATO became actively involved when its jets
shot down four Serb aircraft over central Bosnia on 28 February 1994 for violating the UN no-fly zone. On 12 March 1994, the
United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) made its first request for NATO air support, but close air support was not deployed, owing to a number of delays associated with the approval process. On 20 March an aid convoy with medical supplies and doctors reached
Maglaj, a city of 100,000 people, which had been under siege since May 1993 and had been surviving off food supplies dropped by
US aircraft. A second convoy on 23 March was hijacked and looted. On 10–11 April 1994, UNPROFOR called in air strikes to protect the
Goražde safe area, resulting in the bombing of a Serbian military command outpost near Goražde by two US
F-16 jets. The ambush was dispersed when the UN forces retaliated with heavy fire in what would be known as
Operation Bøllebank. On 12 May, the
US Senate adopted , introduced by Sen.
Bob Dole, to unilaterally lift the arms embargo against the Bosnians, but it was repudiated by President Clinton. On 5 October 1994, was signed by the President and stated that if the Bosnian Serbs had not accepted the Contact Group proposal by 15 October the President should introduce a UN Security Council proposal to end the arms embargo, and that if it was not passed by 15 November, only funds required by all UN members under Resolution 713 could be used to enforce the embargo, which would effectively end the embargo. On 12–13 November, the US unilaterally lifted the arms embargo against the government of Bosnia. On 5 August, at the request of UNPROFOR, NATO aircraft attacked a target within the Sarajevo Exclusion Zone after weapons were seized by Bosnian Serbs from a weapons collection site near Sarajevo. On 22 September 1994, NATO aircraft carried out an air strike against a Bosnian Serb tank at the request of UNPROFOR. On 19 November 1994, the North Atlantic Council approved the extension of Close Air Support to Croatia for the protection of UN forces in that country. During April and June, Croatian forces conducted two offensives known as
Leap 1 and
Leap 2. With these offensives, they secured the remainder of the
Livno Valley and threatened the VRS-held town of
Bosansko Grahovo. On 27 May 1995, a confrontation occurred across the Vrbanja Bridge. During the battle, elements of the Bosnian Serb army stormed French-built UNPROFOR observation posts, taking hostage 10 French troops. The French Army, led by
François Lecointre, sent about 100 UN-peacekeeping troops to the bridge, retaking the post and soon after the VRS withdrew. On 11 July 1995,
Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) forces under general
Ratko Mladić occupied the UN "safe area" of
Srebrenica in eastern Bosnia where more than 8,000 men were killed in the
Srebrenica massacre (most women were expelled to Bosniak-held territory). The United Nations Protection Force (
UNPROFOR), represented on the ground by a 400-strong contingent of Dutch
peacekeepers,
Dutchbat, failed to prevent the town's capture by the VRS and the subsequent massacre. The
ICTY ruled this event as genocide in the
Krstić case. On 25 July 1995, Serbs launched "Operation Stupčanica 95" to occupy the second UN "safe area",
Žepa. UNPROFOR only sent 79 Ukrainian peacekeepers to Žepa. In line with the
Split Agreement signed between Tuđman and Izetbegović on 22 July, a joint military offensive by the HV and the HVO codenamed
Operation Summer '95 took place in western Bosnia. The HV-HVO force gained control of Glamoč and Bosansko Grahovo and isolated Knin from Republika Srpska. On 4 August, the HV launched
Operation Storm that effectively dissolved the
Republic of Serbian Krajina. With this, the Bosniak-Croat alliance gained the initiative in the war, taking much of western Bosnia from the VRS in several operations in September and October. In
Novi Grad, Croatian forces launched
Operation Una, which began on 18 September 1995, when HV crossed the
Una river and entered Bosnia. In 2006, Croatian authorities began investigating allegations of
war crimes committed during this operation, specifically the killing of 40 civilians in the Bosanska Dubica area by troops of the 1st Battalion of the 2nd Guards Brigade. ,
Alija Izetbegović and
Franjo Tuđman formally signing the peace agreement in Paris on 14 December 1995. The HV-HVO secured over of territory during
Operation Mistral 2, including the towns of
Jajce,
Šipovo and
Drvar. At the same time, the ARBiH engaged the VRS further to the north in
Operation Sana and captured several towns, including Bosanska Krupa, Bosanski Petrovac, Ključ and Sanski Most. A VRS counteroffensive against the ARBiH in western Bosnia was launched on 23/24 September. Within two weeks the VRS was in the vicinity of the town of Ključ. The ARBiH requested Croatian assistance and on 8 October the HV-HVO launched
Operation Southern Move under the overall command of HV Major General
Ante Gotovina. The VRS lost the town of
Mrkonjić Grad, while HVO units came within south of Banja Luka. On 28 August, a VRS mortar attack on the Sarajevo
Markale marketplace killed 43 people. In response to the second
Markale massacre, on 30 August, the
Secretary General of NATO announced the start of
Operation Deliberate Force, widespread airstrikes against Bosnian Serb positions supported by UNPROFOR rapid reaction force artillery attacks. On 14 September 1995, the NATO air strikes were suspended to allow the implementation of an agreement with Bosnian Serbs for the withdrawal of heavy weapons from around Sarajevo. Twelve days later, on 26 September, an agreement of further basic principles for a peace accord was reached in
New York City between the foreign ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and the FRY. A 60-day ceasefire came into effect on 12 October, and on 1 November peace talks began in
Dayton, Ohio. Following the Dayton Agreement, a NATO-led Implementation Force (
IFOR) was deployed to Bosnia-Herzegovina. This 80,000 strong unit, was deployed in order to enforce the peace, as well as other tasks such as providing support for humanitarian and political aid, reconstruction, providing support for displaced civilians to return to their homes, collection of arms, and mine and
unexploded ordnance clearing of the affected areas. == Casualties ==