Siege of Srebrenica

Siege of Srebrenica
Part of the Bosnian War
A panorama of the town of Srebrenica
Date 9 May 1992 – 11 July 1995 Location Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina 44°06′15″N 19°17′50″E / 44.10417°N 19.29722°E / 44.10417; 19.29722 Result Serb victory Territorial changes Republika Srpska captures the Srebrenica enclave
Belligerents
Yugoslav People's Army (1992) Army of Republika Srpska (1992–95) Serb Volunteer Guard (1992, 1995) Scorpions paramilitary unit (1995) Police, volunteers and paramilitaries from Yugoslavia (1995) Greek volunteers (1993–95) Russian volunteers (1995)	Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina NATO (1995)
Commanders and leaders
Ratko Mladić Radislav Krstić Zdravko Tolimir Milorad Pelemiš	Naser Orić (May 1992 – April 1995) Ramiz Bećirović (WIA) (April–July 1995)
Strength
~1,500 soldiers (before Krivaja '95) 3,000 soldiers (during Krivaja '95)	~6,000 soldiers Air Support
Casualties and losses
Total: 9,377 war-related deaths in the Srebrenica municipality (1992–1995)[1]

The siege of Srebrenica (Serbo-Croatian: Opsada Srebrenice, Опсада Сребреницe) was a three-year siege of the town of Srebrenica in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina which lasted from April 1992 to July 1995 during the Bosnian War. Initially assaulted by the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) and the Serbian Volunteer Guard (SDG), the town was encircled by the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) in May 1992, starting a brutal siege which was to last for the majority of the Bosnian War. In June 1995, the commander of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ARBiH) in the enclave, Naser Orić, left Srebrenica and fled to the town of Tuzla. He was subsequently replaced by his deputy, Major Ramiz Bećirović.

In July 1995, Srebrenica fell to the combined forces of the Republika Srpska and numerous paramilitary formations which included hundreds of Greek and Russian volunteers in what was codenamed Operation Krivaja '95 (Serbo-Croatian: Operacija Krivaja '95, Операција Криваја '95). The subsequent massacre of the town's male population led to the deaths of more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys, and is considered the largest act of mass murder in Europe since the end of World War II. It was judged to have been a crime of genocide by international criminal courts. As a result, VRS General Radislav Krstić was found guilty by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) of murder, persecution and aiding and abetting genocide, while VRS General Zdravko Tolimir was also convicted of genocide. Both men were sentenced to life imprisonment. One of the indictments against Ratko Mladić, the commander of the VRS during the war, is for the massacre in Srebrenica. The commander of Bosniak forces in the enclave, Naser Orić, was found guilty of failing to prevent the mistreatment of VRS prisoners held in Srebrenica between September 1992 and March 1993. However, his conviction was overturned in 2008.