Dear reader of FAKTI, you witnessed the 12-day war between Israel and Iran. Today we will take you back to the 1990s, when a 10-day war marked the beginning of the collapse of Yugoslavia.
On June 27, 1991, Yugoslav tanks, troops and aircraft entered Slovenia.
This happened 48 hours after the Balkan republic declared independence from Tito's Yugoslavia.
We recall that on June 25, 1991, Slovenia and Croatia declared independence, which marked the beginning of the collapse of Yugoslavia.
This decision comes after the December 1990 elections. independence referendums in both Balkan countries. In Slovenia, over 88% of voters supported the country's secession from Yugoslavia.
The military response of the SFRY was not long in coming, and on June 27, the troops of the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) entered Slovenia.
The so-called Ten-Day War began, one of the civil wars that marked the beginning of the breakup of Yugoslavia.
The federal army took control of the border crossings with Italy, Austria and Hungary and launched an attack on the airport near the capital Ljubljana.
On the other hand, government tanks entered neighboring Croatia, which also declared independence.
The Slovenian administration rejected the Yugoslav prime minister's call for a three-month ceasefire to allow for negotiations, demanding that troops be withdrawn first.
Meanwhile, access to the capital Ljubljana was blocked by police and paramilitary forces from the independent Slovenia.
The government in Ljubljana reported that 15 tanks had been seized or destroyed and six helicopters had been shot down.
"There is a war in Slovenia - there are conflicts in at least 20 places," said Defense Minister Janez Jansa.
The British government condemned the use of force in the country and called for dialogue between the two sides.
But a spokesman for the Yugoslav Ministry of Defense warned that the federal army "will fulfill its duties to the end, regardless of the type of resistance."
The message from the military commander of the region, General Konrad Kolšek, to Ljubljana made it clear that his mission was to restore federal control over the province.
"The order will be carried out unconditionally - we will act according to the rules of engagement... Any resistance will be crushed," General Konrad Kolšek threatened.
Yugoslav air forces dropped propaganda leaflets over several parts of Slovenia with the message "We invite you to peace and partnership" and “Any resistance will be crushed“.
The Slovenian Territorial Defense also took up positions around several JNA barracks and effectively besieged them, as well as conducting several attacks against JNA forces in Slovenia.
At the Brnik airport, the Slovenian Territorial Defense attacked the JNA troops, and a heavy battle was also fought near Târcin, in which 4 JNA soldiers and a Slovenian soldier died, and the rest of the units were forced to surrender. Attacks were also carried out on the JNA tank column in Pesnica, Ormoć and Košeče. A tank column of the 23rd Mechanized Brigade, coming from Varaždin, was blocked at Ormoć near the Slovenian border and failed to break through the Slovenian barricades.
The Italian government led by Giulio Andreotti was pro-Yugoslav due to the presence of separatism on its territory, but also because Andreotti was in close relations with the Serbian member of the Presidency of the SFRY and until recently its President Borislav Jović – former ambassador of the SFRY to Italy when Andreotti was foreign minister.
The same day, the Italian ambassador in Belgrade informed Jović of the Italians' intention to provide military assistance in the border regions of Yugoslavia. Jović accepted the offer and late in the evening of 27/28 June, units of the Italian 98th Army Corps of the Italian Army based in Trieste, commanded by General Vito Ronza, moved in and blocked the border checkpoint on the Italian side of the border. At dawn on 28 June 1991, units of the Italian Army and those of the Italian Border Guard opened artillery fire against the units of the Territorial Defense of Slovenia that had blocked the Yugoslav-Italian border checkpoint.
The news of Italy's intervention spread instantly and on 29 June, at a meeting of the EEC Commission, Germany and Great Britain condemned the Italian army's actions against Slovenia and the Italians were forced to stop the army shelling.
In the following days, the Slovenian Territorial Defence launched further attacks against the JNA, gradually capturing all previous positions of the JNA units. Between 4 and 6 July, the army was allowed to withdraw from Slovenia, and on 7 July the Brijuni Agreement was signed, ending the war.