Battle of Grbavica (1993)

Grbavica is a part of Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which, due to its strategic importance, became a major battlefield.^[2]

The Battle of Grbavica was part of a broader effort by Bosnian government forces to break the siege of Sarajevo. The area saw intense fighting as Bosniak forces attempted to retake the territory from the Serbs.^[3] In 1993, the ARBiH made many attempts to capture Grbavica, and fighting also took place near the Jewish Cemetery and the Vrbanja Bridge, but the attack on Grbavica failed. The area was heavily fortified by the Serbs, which made all attacks expensive and difficult.^[4][5] In June 1994, the commander of the Russian volunteers, Aleksandar Škrabov, was buried in Grbavica^[6][7]. Bosniaks reduced the number of attacks on the VRS and Russian volunteers in 1994. And in 1995, they turned their attention from Grbavica to an attempt to end the siege of Sarajevo in Operation Tekbir '95, which ended disastrously for the Bosniaks.^[2]

The Army of Republika Srpska successfully defended Grbavica from the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina.^[8] During the battle, there were also expulsions of non-Serbs from Sarajevo neighborhoods. The Battle of Grbavica was concluded by the Dayton Peace Agreement in December 1995, which ended the war. According to the terms of the agreement, Grbavica was returned to the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.