Bosnia and Herzegovina today mark the 26th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre. This massacre is the biggest in Europe since World War II. In July 1995, Bosnian Serb forces killed over 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the Srebrenica enclave, designated a “safe haven” by the United Nations. On July 9, 1995, the then Serb leader, Radovan Karadzic, issued a new order to occupy Srebrenica. Troops surrounded the enclave and attacked Dutch peacekeepers taking 30 of them hostage.
A day later, on July 10, Bosnian Serb soldiers began bombing Srebrenica. Dutch forces threatened the Serbs that there would be NATO air strikes if they did not withdraw by morning. And the next day, NATO planes bombed Serbian tanks outside Srebrenica. Serbian forces threatened to resume bombing and kill captured Dutch soldiers. The airstrikes stopped, and on the evening of July 11th, Bosnian Serb commander General Ratko Mladic entered Srebrenica.
