NATO Bombing Of Yugoslavia: 15 Years Later
By Countercurrents.org
25 March, 2014
Countercurrents.org
Yugoslavia was bombed for 78 days. About 2,000 Yugoslav citizens died in the bombings. The air invasion started 15 years ago, in 1999. NATO either completely destroyed or damaged 40,000 homes.
Thousands of sorties of air strikes were made. International news organizations including Reuters and AFP sent news and photographs of the bombings, a few of which are above.
The bombings beginning from March 24 were called by Bill Clinton, the then US president, as “important to America’s national interests” and “humanitarian intervention”.
A RT report (“15yo NATO bombings of Yugoslavia in 15 dramatic photos”, March 24, 2014, http://on.rt.com/s3kp7d) said:
Clinton announced the bombing of Serbia.
NATO aircrafts took off from bases in Italy and Germany, the first of 1,000 sorties under operation “Noble Anvil”.
Along with carrying bombings, NATO launched Tomahawk missiles with 1,000-pound warheads from ships in the Mediterranean and Adriatic at military facilities in Pristina, Podgorica, Batajnica and an air base near Belgrade. Serbian night skies were lit by fire from NATO bomb air missile explosions.
At an emergency UNSC meeting only Russia, China and Namibia supported a resolution condemning NATO’s aggression.
NATO insisted it would only bomb military targets in Yugoslavia, regularly issuing photos to support the claim. However, the so-called “humanitarian intervention” killed 2,000 civilians. NATO destroyed homes and schools, libraries and hospitals, dismissing it as ‘collateral damage’. Vehicles burned in front of a Belgrade hospital as it was hit by NATO air strikes.
In one NATO air strike on April 26, six Serbian TV workers died.
Serbs in Belgrade protested against NATO air invasion on March 29.
In April, Belgrade announced a unilateral ceasefire to mark the Orthodox Easter and made an offer to allow refugees to return to Kosovo. The West replied with another night of bombing.
Thousands of people spent nights in bomb shelters.
In late May, NATO plunged Belgrade into darkness, destroying a power plant that supplied much of Serbia.
Refineries and chemical plants all over Serbia were destroyed, polluting the region’s ecology and damaging public health.
15 years after the NATO bombings, Serbia is still haunted by the memories of the aggression which cost it hundreds of lives.
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