Kravica attack (1993)

Not to be confused with Kravica execution (1995).

The Kravica attack was a surprise attack against the Serb village of Kravica by the Bosnian Army on, Orthodox Christmas Day, January 7, 1993. The attack began at 6:00 AM and lasted until 4:30 PM. The purpose of the operation was to enable physical contact between the ABiH-held territories of Srebrenica and Konjevic Polje. The operation was planned by Ferid Hodzic, commander of the Vlasenica Territorial Defense Staff and executed by the joint armed forces of the Srebrenica sub-region commanded by Nasir Oric.

On 7 and 8 January 1993, Bosnian Muslim soldiers attacked Kravica village which was inhabited by Serbs. The Muslim fighters were from a number of villages within Srebrenica enclave. At the time of the attack, there were a number of village guards and some Serb civilians in Kravica. Evidence shows that there was also Serb military presence in the area. The attack met with resistance. Serbs fired artillery on the attacking Bosniaks from houses and other buildings. Houses in the area were burning. Property was destroyed on a large scale. However, the evidence is unclear as to the number of houses that were wantonly destroyed by Bosniaks, as opposed to other causes.

Insight into the original documentation of the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) clearly shows that military victims highly outnumber the civilian ones. The document entitled "Warpath of the Bratunac brigade", puts the military victims at 35 killed; the number of civilian victims of the attack is eleven.

Prelude to Attack

In 1992, Bosnian Muslim villages around Srebrenica were under constant attacks by Serb forces. The Bosnian Institute in the UK has published a list of 296 villages destroyed by Serb forces around Srebrenica three years before the genocide and in the first three months of war (April - June 1992):

More than three years before the 1995 Srebrenica genocide, Bosnian Serb nationalists - with the logistical, moral and financial support of Serbia and the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) - destroyed 296 predominantly Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) villages in the region around Srebrenica, forcibly uprooting some 70,000 Bosniaks from their homes and systematically massacring at least 3,166 Bosniaks (documented deaths) including many women, children and the elderly.

According to the Naser Oric trial judgement:

"Between April 1992 and March 1993, Srebrenica town and the villages in the area held by Bosnian Muslims were constantly subjected to Serb military assaults, including artillery attacks, sniper fire, as well as occasional bombing from aircraft. Each onslaught followed a similar pattern. Serb soldiers and paramilitaries surrounded a Bosnian Muslim village or hamlet, called upon the population to surrender their weapons, and then began with indiscriminate shelling and shooting. In most cases, they then entered the village or hamlet, expelled or killed the population, who offered no significant resistance, and destroyed their homes. During this period, Srebrenica was subjected to indiscriminate shelling from all directions on a daily basis. Potočari in particular was a daily target for Serb artillery and infantry because it was a sensitive point in the defence line around Srebrenica. Other Bosnian Muslim settlements were routinely attacked as well. All this resulted in a great number of refugees and casualties."

Legal Findings

As for the destruction in Kravica village the judgment in Naser Orić case states that the prosecution failed to present convincing evidence that the Bosnian forces were responsible for them, because the Serb forces used artillery in the fighting in the surrounding villages. For instance, in the case of the village of Bjelovac, Serbs even used the warplanes.

The Judgment in the case of Prosecutor vs. Oric makes it clear that Serb village of Kravica was a military base from which Serbs launched deadly attacks on neighbouring Bosnian Muslim villages and town of Srebrenica itself. The Bosniak counter-attack on Kravica on the 7 January 1993 followed as a result of Serb blockade of humanitarian aid and constant attacks on nearby Bosnian Muslim villages. It was a response to earlier Serb attacks that occurred in December 1992. According to the Judgment:

"The fighting intensified in December 1992 and the beginning of January 1993, when Bosnian Muslims were attacked by Bosnian Serbs primarily from the direction of Kravica and Ježestica. In the early morning of the 7 January 1993, Orthodox Christmas day, Bosnian Muslims attacked Kravica, Ježestica and Šiljkovići. Convincing evidence suggests that the village guards were backed by the VRS [Bosnian Serb Army], and following the fighting in the summer of 1992, they received military support, including weapons and training. A considerable amount of weapons and ammunition was kept in Kravica and Šiljkovići. Moreover, there is evidence that besides the village guards, there was Serb and Bosnian Serb military presence in the area. The Trial Chamber is not satisfied that it can be attributed solely to Bosnian Muslims. The evidence is unclear as to the number of houses destroyed by Bosnian Muslims as opposed to those destroyed by Bosnian Serbs. In light of this uncertainty, the Trial Chamber concludes that the destruction of property in Kravica between 7 and 8 December 1992 does not fulfil the elements of wanton destruction of cities, towns or villages not justified by military necessity.""

The Judgment also confirms that Bosniak refugees in the besieged enclave started dying from starvation caused by the Serb blockade of humanitarian aid. As a result, Bosniaks had to counter-attack Serb military bases around Srebrenica to obtain much needed food and other necessities for the survival:

"Between June 1992 and March 1993, Bosnian Muslims raided a number of villages and hamlets inhabited by Bosnian Serbs, or from which Bosnian Muslims had formerly been expelled. One of the purposes of these actions was to acquire food, weapons, ammunition and military equipment. Bosnian Serb forces controlling the access roads were not allowing international humanitarian aid – most importantly, food and medicine – to reach Srebrenica. As a consequence, there was a constant and serious shortage of food causing starvation to peak in the winter of 1992/1993. Numerous people died or were in an extremely emaciated state due to malnutrition."

The fall of Kravica, which in the past had always been an important symbol of Serb resolve, created a shock wave in Eastern Bosnia; the population of Bratunac panicked and the authorities had to close the bridges over the Drina to prevent people from crossing the river en masse. For the Bosniaks, however, the victory over Kravica was a considerable boost; this conquest allowed Oric to connect with the resistance forces in Konjevic Polje and Cerska, yielding one large Bosnian terrain from Zepa and Srebrenica almost to Zvornik.^{[citation needed]}

Soon after the attack on Kravica, Serb forces launched a major offensive resulting in United Nations declaring Srebrenica a "safe area".

The massacre of Bosnian Serb civilians at Kravica did create a motive for retaliation and revenge against the Srebrenica Muslim troops that committed the killings. See the article Kravica execution (1995) for what resulted from this attack in 1993. The Bosnian Serbs were looking for payback and retribution against the Srebrenica Muslim soldiers that committed the Kravica massacre, focuing on the town of Srebrenica itself, the military base for Naser Oric.

Eight months before the Kravica attack, Serb committed massacres against civilian Bosniak population in Bratunac, villages of Hranca, Glogova, also they participated in the first Srebrenica massacre in April 1992.