The Srebrenica Massacre - Nova Srpska Politicka Misao

The Military Context of the Fall of Srebrenica
Serbs back up the Livno valley to open another front against Knin.
The Zagreb-Belgrade Highway (the opening of which had been a significant
part of the economic agreement between Zagreb and Knin) became
the means by which the Croats attempted to further provoke the
Krajina Serbs. Serb vehicles were subjected to excruciatingly slow security
checks causing queues of hundreds of cars. In response, on April
24, the Serb authorities said they would close the highway for 24 hours.
This was presented by the Croats as a completely unwarranted unilateral
action which would require them to use force to reopen it. Sensing
the trap, the Krajina Serbs backed down and removed their blockade on
April 25.
An ECMM report from the time confirms that the Croats were really
just looking for an excuse to unleash its army on the UNPA Sector
West:
The HV [Croatian Army] seems to be ready to take the northern
part of the UNPA at any time. The overall picture of HV
deployment shows the UNPA is completely surrounded from
the east, west and north. The biggest strength is located exactly
at Pivare for obvious reasons: to avoid any reinforcements from
the [BSA] side. 37
On April 28, a Krajina Serb man was stabbed to death at a gas station
along a Croat-controlled section of the same highway, near Nova
Gradiska. His body was retained by the Croat police. Over the next two
days, the murdered man’s brother took some Croats hostage, later releasing
them. After several Croat motorists were killed by Serb gunfire
along the same highway, the UN ordered the highway closed again,
pending and investigation.
Then at 5 AM on the first of May, the Croatian Army launched “Operation
Flash,” a 48-hour drive deep into the Serb-held territory of
Western Slavonia—the “first serious fighting in the ex-Yugoslav republic
since 1993,” Reuters observed. This very large, very rapid, and very
successful Croat military offensive involved artillery, tanks, aircraft, infantry
battalions and “special” police forces. “We’re trying to get elements
of a ceasefire together,” a UN spokesman told Reuters on the
offensive’s first day. “The Serbs seem ready to sign anything,” he continued,
“but the Croatians are quite unwilling, which is the problem.” 38
O’Shea comments thus:
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