NATO Air Campaign in Bosnia & Herzegovina (1995)

NATO Air Campaign in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1995). Hillsborough County Veterans Memorial Park. , In 1995 NATO bombing of Bosnia and Herzegovina (code named by NATO Operation Deliberate Force) was a sustained air campaign conducted by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to undermine the military capability of the Army of the Republika Srpska (Serbian: Vojska Republike Srpske, VRS) which threatened and attacked UN-designated “safe areas” in Bosnia during the Bosnian War. The operation was carried out between 30 August and 20 September 1995, involving 400 aircraft and 5,000 personnel from 15 nations. The operation was commanded by Admiral Leighton W. Smith. , , The bombing campaign was also roughly conterminous in time with Operation Mistral, two linked military offensives of the Croatian Army, Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Croatian Defence Council launched in Western Bosnia and Herzegovina. , , The Bosnian War was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina, between 1 April 1992 and 14 September 1995. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) after popular pressure had decided to intervene in the Bosnian War after allegations of war crimes against civilians were made by various media organizations. In response to the refugee and humanitarian crisis in Bosnia, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 743 on 21 February 1992, creating the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR). The UNPROFOR mandate was to keep the population alive and deliver humanitarian aid to refugees in Bosnia until the war ended. , , On 2 June 1995, two U.S. Air Force F-16 jets were sent on patrol over Bosnia in support of Operation Deny Flight. While on patrol, an F-16 piloted by Captain Scott O’Grady was shot down by a Bosnian Serb SA-6 surface-to-air missile and was forced to eject from the aircraft. Six days later, O’Grady was rescued by U.S. Marines of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit based on the USS Kearsarge. The event would come to be known as the Mrkonjic Grad incident. , , On 11 July 1995, NATO aircraft attacked targets in the Srebrenica area of Bosnia-Herzegovina as identified by and under the control of the United Nations. This was in response to Bosnian Serb forces advancing on the UN-declared Safe Area of Srebrenica. Bosnian Serb General Ratko Mladic threatened 50 UN peacekeepers who were seized as hostages early as well as shelling the Muslim population Srebrenica if NATO air strikes continues. The U.N. peacekeepers called off the air strikes and agreed to withdraw from Srebrenica as the Bosnian Serbs promised they would take care of the Muslim population for the peacekeepers to spare their own lives. For two weeks, forces of the Bosnian Serb General Ratko Mladic then slaughtered over 8,000 Bosnians, mainly men and boys, in the Srebrenica massacre in what is the worst massacre in Europe since World War II. , , On the night of 10 September 1995, the Ticonderoga class cruiser USS Normandy launched a Tomahawk missile strike from the central Adriatic Sea against a key air defense radio relay tower at Lisina, near Benja Luka, while U.S. Air Force F-15E and U.S. Navy F/A-18 fighter-bombers hit the same targets with about a dozen precision-guided bombs and F-16 jets attacked with Maverick missiles. , , On 14 September 1995, NATO air strikes were suspended to allow the implementation of an agreement with Bosnian Serbs, to include the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the Sarajevo exclusion zone. The initial 72 hour suspension was eventually extended to 114 hours. , , (Caption) , , A U.S. Air Force F-16C aircraft returns to Aviano AB, Italy, from a mission in support of NATO airstrikes against Republika Srpska.