May 1995 Pale air strikes

May 1995 Pale air strikes
Part of Operation Deny Flight
Spanish EF-18
Date 25–26 May 1995 Location Pale, Bosnia and Herzegovina 43°47′11.8″N 18°36′55.8″E / 43.786611°N 18.615500°E / 43.786611; 18.615500 Result VRS ammunition depots destroyed or damaged
Belligerents
NATO  United States  Spain  Netherlands  France	Republika Srpska
Commanders and leaders
Leighton W. Smith Rupert Smith	Dragomir Milošević
Units involved
5th Allied Tactical Air Force	Sarajevo-Romanija Corps
Casualties and losses
Nil	4 dead 17 wounded 8 ammunition depots hit

On 25 and 26 May 1995, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) conducted air strikes against ammunition depots of the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) at Jahorinski Potok near Pale, Bosnia and Herzegovina, as part of Operation Deny Flight, during the Bosnian War.

Operation Deny Flight conducted aerial monitoring and enforced compliance with a "no-fly zone", provided close air support to United Nations (UN) peacekeeping forces mandated by the United Nations Security Council, and conducted, after request by and in coordination with the UN, approved air strikes against designated targets threatening the security of the UN-declared safe areas. NATO Allied Forces Southern Europe was responsible for the operation, and day-to-day mission tasking was conducted by 5th Allied Tactical Air Force in Italy. On two occasions in 1994, NATO airstrikes had resulted in the VRS taking UN peacekeepers hostage and using them as human shields. In response to offensives by the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina in March, the VRS removed heavy weapons from UN collection points and used them to shell the besieged Bosnian capital and UN-declared safe area of Sarajevo.

In response the UN commander requested a NATO airstrike against VRS ammunition depots just outside Pale. The first strike on 25 May hit two depots. The VRS responded later that day by shelling five of the safe areas in Bosnia, including the city of Tuzla. During the latter attack, a shell landed near a crowded cafe, killing 71 civilians and wounding about 150, and horrifying the international community. A second air strike was carried out against six more depots in the same location the following morning. This prompted the VRS to take 377 UN peacekeepers hostage over the following days, and a decision to cease conducting air strikes against the VRS for the time being. The UN was forced to reassess its strategy, deployments and force structure, leading to the consolidation of UN peacekeepers into defensible bases, withdrawal of vulnerable military observers from VRS-held areas, and the deployment of a new force element, the two-brigade UN Rapid Reaction Force (RRF). All of this was part of the UN's new aggressive approach to defend threatened peacekeepers and retaliate for violations of UN resolutions. The RRF played a significant role in defending UN troops and retaliating for VRS provocations when the use of NATO air strikes returned with a vengeance during the Operation Deliberate Force air campaign which began in August. The Bosnian Serb leaders responsible for the Tuzla massacre and hostage taking were prosecuted and sentenced to long terms of imprisonment after the war.