The “Corridor of Life” military operation held 27 years ago was glorious in that it "bonded" parts of Bosnia's Serb-dominated Republika Srpska (RS) entity with Serbia, thus connecting the Serb people in Bosnia and Serbia, Bosnian Serb leader and Presidency Chairman Milorad Dodik said Sunday, marking the 27th anniversary of the RS Army's military operation, at Duga Njiva near Modrica, Northern Bosnia.
“This operation is proof that no one could prevent our bond with our homeland Serbia. The enemies know that to this and to this day and they are trying (to break the bond), but they won't succeed,” Dodik said.
The Corridor 92 or the Corridor of Life was the largest military operation conducted by the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) during the 1992-1995 Bosnian War, against the forces of the Croatian Defence Council (HVO) and the Croatian Army (HV) in the Bosanska Posavina region of Northern Bosnia.
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It was held between June 24 and October 6, 1992. The objective was to re-establish a road link between the city of Banja Luka in the West and the Eastern parts of the territory controlled by Bosnian Serbs.
The offensive was prompted by the capture of Derventa by the HV and the HVO – a move that blocked the single overland road between the VRS-controlled territories.
Thus Dodik's use of the term “united,” meaning there were no land barriers between the Serb-occupied territories in Bosnia and Serbia to the East after the operation.
The VRS successfully recaptured Derventa and pushed the HVO and the HV North, capturing several towns in the process.
In the second part of the offensive, the VRS reached the Sava River, the border with Croatia, and destroyed a bridgehead held by the HV and the HVO at Bosanski Brod.
The offensive involved more than 60,000 troops and resulted in heavy casualties for all sides, especially the HVO.
Dodik, who is well known for his statements denying Bosnia's statehood and competences, argued that strengthening of Bosnia and its institutions at the expense of Serbs is unacceptable, claiming that some are trying to take away the power from the Serb people in the country.
He reiterated his earlier claims that “Serbs in Bosnia were imposed many things like the State Court and Prosecution,” which, according to him, are not working sufficiently enough on processing the responsible Bosniaks for their war crimes against Serbs.
After the war, Bosnia was subdivided into two semi-autonomous entities, the RS and the Bosniak-Croat shared Federation (FBiH), as well as the District of Brcko in the north of the country, not dominated by either of the three constituent peoples.
