Post by Caslav Klonimirovic on Mar 26, 2010 6:54:08 GMT -5
Air raid sirens mark 11 years of NATO bombing of Serbia
25 March 2010 | 02:03 | FOCUS News Agency
Belgrade. Air raid sirens were sounded in Belgrade and the southern Serbian city of Nis on Wednesday, marking the 11th anniversary of the beginning of the NATO air bombing campaign of the then Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Xinhua News Agency informed.
Code named 'Operation Allied Force,' the NATO air campaign lasted 78 days and resulted in approximately 2,500 civilian and 1, 030 military deaths with 12,500 wounded, according to Serbian sources. The estimated damage to Serbia's infrastructure is said to amount to 30 billion U.S. dollars.
Belgrade mayor, Dragan Djilas, and the director of Serbian state television, Aleksandar Tijanic, lit candles under the 'Zasto ' ('Why') monument erected in remembrance of 16 employees killed when the headquarters of Radio Television Serbia sustained a controversial direct hit during the bombing. According to Amnesty International, NATO officials later confirmed that they deliberately targeted the building because of its 'propaganda function,' and to undermine the morale of the population and the armed forces.
At a memorial service for the "innocent victims of the NATO aggression" at Belgrade's St. Mark Church, Patriarch Irinej referred to the NATO forces as "angels of peace" whose "unwanted gifts" were bombs of destruction, reported the Belgrade daily ' Blic.' The service was also attended by Russian Ambassador to Serbia, Aleksandar Konuzin.
Elsewhere in Serbia, Minister of Defense, Dragan Sutanovac, presented a wreath before the monument of victims of the most recent wars, in the central-Serbian town of Valjevo. In Nis, where the scars of NATO cluster bombing are still evident, a remembrance service was conducted before the university building.
The bombing was NATO's response to a humanitarian crisis in Serbia's southern province of Kosovo and the breakdown of diplomatic efforts to resolve the issue. Immediately prior and during the bombing, an estimated 800,000 ethnic Albanians sought refuge in neighboring countries. At the end of hostilities and with the arrival of an international military force, an estimated 200,000 Serbs left Kosovo.
25 March 2010 | 02:03 | FOCUS News Agency
Belgrade. Air raid sirens were sounded in Belgrade and the southern Serbian city of Nis on Wednesday, marking the 11th anniversary of the beginning of the NATO air bombing campaign of the then Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Xinhua News Agency informed.
Code named 'Operation Allied Force,' the NATO air campaign lasted 78 days and resulted in approximately 2,500 civilian and 1, 030 military deaths with 12,500 wounded, according to Serbian sources. The estimated damage to Serbia's infrastructure is said to amount to 30 billion U.S. dollars.
Belgrade mayor, Dragan Djilas, and the director of Serbian state television, Aleksandar Tijanic, lit candles under the 'Zasto ' ('Why') monument erected in remembrance of 16 employees killed when the headquarters of Radio Television Serbia sustained a controversial direct hit during the bombing. According to Amnesty International, NATO officials later confirmed that they deliberately targeted the building because of its 'propaganda function,' and to undermine the morale of the population and the armed forces.
At a memorial service for the "innocent victims of the NATO aggression" at Belgrade's St. Mark Church, Patriarch Irinej referred to the NATO forces as "angels of peace" whose "unwanted gifts" were bombs of destruction, reported the Belgrade daily ' Blic.' The service was also attended by Russian Ambassador to Serbia, Aleksandar Konuzin.
Elsewhere in Serbia, Minister of Defense, Dragan Sutanovac, presented a wreath before the monument of victims of the most recent wars, in the central-Serbian town of Valjevo. In Nis, where the scars of NATO cluster bombing are still evident, a remembrance service was conducted before the university building.
The bombing was NATO's response to a humanitarian crisis in Serbia's southern province of Kosovo and the breakdown of diplomatic efforts to resolve the issue. Immediately prior and during the bombing, an estimated 800,000 ethnic Albanians sought refuge in neighboring countries. At the end of hostilities and with the arrival of an international military force, an estimated 200,000 Serbs left Kosovo.