Global InformationSiege of Sarajevo information
| Siege of Sarajevo | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Bosnian War and the Yugoslav Wars | |||||||
 Clockwise from top left: Crashed civilian vehicle after being fired upon with small arms; UNPROFOR forces in the city; Government building hit by tank shelling; U.S. airstrike on VRS positions; Overview of the city in 1996; VRS soldiers before a prisoner exchange. | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
|
Supported by:  UN NATO(1994–96)  Inter Services Intelligence[1][2][3][4][5] |
 SFR Yugoslavia (April–May 1992) Republika Srpska(1992–96) | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Javed Nasir[6][2][7][4][5] |
 Radovan Karadžić Ratko Mladić Tomislav Šipčić Stanislav Galić Dragomir Milošević | ||||||
| Units involved | |||||||
|
UNPROFOR
OP Deliberate Force:
|
Army of Republika Srpska (1992–96) | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
 34,931 soldiers[12] |
13,000 soldiers | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 3,587 soldiers killed[13] | 2,241 soldiers killed | ||||||
| 5,434 civilians killed | |||||||
The siege of Sarajevo (Bosnian: Opsada Sarajeva) was a prolonged blockade of Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, during the Bosnian War. After it was initially besieged by the forces of the Yugoslav People's Army, the city was then besieged by the Army of Republika Srpska. Lasting from 5 April 1992 to 29 February 1996 (1,425 days), it was three times longer than the Battle of Stalingrad, more than a year longer than the siege of Leningrad, and was the longest siege of a capital city in the history of modern warfare.[14]
When Bosnia and Herzegovina declared independence from Yugoslavia after the 1992 Bosnian independence referendum, the Bosnian Serbs—whose strategic goal was to create a new Bosnian Serb state of Republika Srpska (RS) that would include Bosniak-majority areas[15]—encircled Sarajevo with a siege force of 13,000[16][17][18] stationed in the surrounding hills. From there they assaulted the city with artillery, tanks, and small arms.[19] From 2 May 1992, the Serbs blockaded the city. The Bosnian government defence forces (ARBiH) inside the besieged city, approximately with 34,931 troops on average,[20] without heavy weapons or armor, defended much of the urban area of the city throughout the war but were unable to break the siege. The siege was lifted following the signing of the Dayton Agreement on December 14th, 1995. A total of 13,952 people were killed during the siege, including 5,434 civilians. The ARBiH sustained 3,587 fatalities,[21] while Bosnian Serb military casualties numbered 2,241 killed soldiers. The 1991 census indicates that before the siege, the city and its surrounding areas had a total population of 525,980. According to some estimates, the total population of the city proper prior to the siege was 435,000. Estimates of the population of Sarajevo after the siege ranged from 300,000 to 380,000.[16] Sarajevo's population endured up to six months without gas, electricity or water supply during certain stages of the siege.[22]
After the war, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) convicted four Serb officials for numerous counts of crimes against humanity which they committed during the siege, including terrorism. Stanislav Galić[23] and Dragomir Milošević[24] were sentenced to life imprisonment and 29 years imprisonment respectively. Their superiors, Radovan Karadžić[25] and Ratko Mladić, were also convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.[26][27]
- ^ Wiebes, Cees (2003). Intelligence and the War in Bosnia, 1992–1995: Volume 1 of Studies in intelligence history. LIT Verlag. p. 195. ISBN 978-3-8258-6347-0.
Pakistan definitely defied the United Nations ban on supply of arms to the Bosnian Muslims and sophisticated anti-tank guided missiles were airlifted by the Pakistani intelligence agency, ISI, to help Bosnians fight the Serbs.
- ^ a b c Abbas, Hassan (2015). Pakistan's Drift Into Extremism: Allah, the Army, and America's War on Terror. Routledge. p. 148. ISBN 978-1-317-46328-3.
Javed Nasir confesses that despite the U.N. ban on supplying arms to the besieged Bosnians, he successfully airlifted sophisticated antitank guided missiles which turned the tide in favour of Bosnian Muslims and forced the Serbs to lift the siege. Under his leadership the ISI also got involved in supporting Chinese Muslims in Xinjiang Province, rebel Muslim groups in the Philippines, and some religious groups in Central Asia.
- ^ Schindler, John R. Unholy Terror. Zenith Imprint. p. 154. ISBN 978-1-61673-964-5.
Pakistan's notorious Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate, the supporters of the Afghan Mujahidin in the 1980s and the Taliban in the 1990s, violated the UN embargo and provided Bosnian Muslims with sophisticated antitank guided missiles.
- ^ a b c "Pak defied UN, supplied arms to Bosnia". Press Trust of India. 4 September 2011. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
- ^ a b c "Javed Nasir". ISI Directorship. Archived from the original on 1 June 2013. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
- ^ Wiebes, Cees (2003). Intelligence and the War in Bosnia, 1992–1995: Volume 1 of Studies in intelligence history. LIT Verlag. p. 195. ISBN 978-3-8258-6347-0.
Pakistan definitely defied the United Nations ban on supply of arms to the Bosnian Muslims and sophisticated anti-tank guided missiles were airlifted by the Pakistani intelligence agency, ISI, to help Bosnians fight the Serbs.
- ^ Schindler, John R. Unholy Terror. Zenith Imprint. p. 154. ISBN 978-1-61673-964-5.
Pakistan's notorious Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate, the supporters of the Afghan Mujahidin in the 1980s and the Taliban in the 1990s, violated the UN embargo and provided Bosnian Muslims with sophisticated antitank guided missiles.
- ^ "Bosnia Heavy fighting Army-Black Swans unit part 1". YouTube. Archived from the original on 12 December 2021.
- ^ "Bosnia Heavy fighting Army-Black Swans unit part 2". YouTube. Archived from the original on 12 December 2021.
- ^ Wiebes, Cees (2003). Intelligence and the War in Bosnia, 1992–1995: Volume 1 of Studies in intelligence history. LIT Verlag. p. 195. ISBN 978-3-8258-6347-0.
Pakistan definitely defied the United Nations ban on supply of arms to the Bosnian Muslims and sophisticated anti-tank guided missiles were airlifted by the Pakistani intelligence agency, ISI, to help Bosnians fight the Serbs.
- ^ Schindler, John R. Unholy Terror. Zenith Imprint. p. 154. ISBN 978-1-61673-964-5.
Pakistan's notorious Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate, the supporters of the Afghan Mujahidin in the 1980s and the Taliban in the 1990s, violated the UN embargo and provided Bosnian Muslims with sophisticated antitank guided missiles.
- ^ Čekić, Smail. Monografija 1. Korpusa (PDF). Bosnia. p. 392.
- ^ Čekić, Smail. Monografija 1. Korpusa (PDF). Bosnia. p. 392.
- ^ Connelly, Charlie (8 October 2005). "The new siege of Sarajevo". The Times. UK. Retrieved 10 May 2010.
- ^ Hartmann, Florence (July 2007). "A statement at the seventh biennial meeting of the International Association of Genocide Scholars". Helsinki. Retrieved 11 May 2010.
- ^ a b Bassiouni, Cherif (27 May 1994). "Final report of the United Nations Commission of Experts established pursuant to security council resolution 780 (1992) – Annex VI – part 1 – Study of the battle and siege of Sarajevo". United Nations. Archived from the original on 22 February 2001. Retrieved 10 May 2010.
- ^ Srećko Latal (25 June 1995). "Bosnian Army Says Battle for Sarajevo Will Last Months". Associated Press. Retrieved 9 February 2013.
- ^ "The Siege of Sarajevo: 'The blood of children has a different texture on white snow' – a survivor speaks, 20 years on". The Northern Echo. 9 July 2015. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
- ^ Strange, Hannah (12 December 2007). "Serb general Dragomir Milosevic convicted over Sarajevo siege". The Times. UK. Retrieved 10 May 2010.
- ^ Čekić, Smail. Monografija 1. Korpusa (PDF). Bosnia. p. 392.
- ^ Čekić, Smail. Monografija 1. Korpusa (PDF). Bosnia. p. 392.
- ^ Stacy Sullivan (12 October 1995). "Lights, Water, Action: Life in Sarajevo Returns to the Basics". CSMonitor.com. Retrieved 15 April 2013.
- ^ "ICTY: Stanislav Galić judgement" (PDF). ICTY. 30 November 2006. Retrieved 3 March 2010.
- ^ "ICTY: Dragomir Milošević judgement" (PDF). ICTY. 12 November 2009. Retrieved 3 March 2010.
- ^ Tran, Mark (2 March 2010). "Radovan Karadzic claims Bosnian Muslims 'killed own people' in Sarajevo". The Guardian. UK. Retrieved 3 March 2010.
- ^ "UN appeals court increases Radovan Karadzic's sentence to life imprisonment". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 22 March 2019. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
- ^ Bowcott, Owen; Borger, Julian (22 November 2017). "Ratko Mladic found guilty". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
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