General Lovrić: We did not conduct Operation Storm for war, but for peace

Croatia is remembering the events of exactly 30 years ago - on this day in 1995, Operation Storm began. With a masterfully executed military and police operation by the Croatian army, police, and volunteers - in just 84 hours, almost 10,500 square kilometers of Croatian territory were liberated.

The central celebration of the 30th anniversary of Operation Storm will be held tomorrow in Knin, and General Drago Lovrić spoke about the memories of those difficult days and years of war on the Croatian Radio Television’s Studio 4 show.

“Operation Storm was a victorious operation. It is the battle of all battles in the history of the Croatian people in which the Croats showed that they could successfully liberate the Republic of Croatia in a very short period of time. We did not conduct Operation Storm for war, but for peace,” said General Drago Lovrić, former Chief of the General Staff of the Croatian Armed Forces.

“The forces of the so-called Armies of the Republic of Serbian Krajina were attacking Bihać,” he said, “and there was a danger that they would repeat the genocide they committed in Srebrenica. According to estimates by American experts,” he added, “there was a danger that they would kill over 32 thousand people.”

“This is precisely why the Republic of Croatia, due to its international obligations and obligations to enforce the law on its own territory, undertook Operation Storm to establish the full legal order of the Republic of Croatia on its entire territory. It has shown that it has an army capable of carrying out all tasks in a very short time interval,” the general concluded.

Source: HRT