ŠKOBO: REPUBLIKA SRPSKA ARMY CONTINUED STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM

ISTOČNO SARAJEVO, MAY 12 /SRNA/ – By establishing the Republika Srpska Army in May 1992, the Serb people demonstrated their determination to remain and survive in their centuries-old homes and to continue the struggle for freedom west of the Drina River, historian Lazar Škobo told SRNA.

Škobo pointed out that after the national and political organisation of the Serb people in BiH in the early 1990s, military organisation was a logical next step.

"The Army of Republika Srpska represented a kind of continuation of the Serb struggle for freedom west of the Drina River," Škobo said.

He stated that during the 20th century, the Serb people opposed various forms of aggression and ideologies.

"After opposing aggressive imperialism in the First World War, and then Nazism and Fascism in the Second World War, at the end of the 20th century the Serb people opposed the surge of Islamic fundamentalism supported by Western hegemonic factors," Škobo said.

Memorial service for fallen soldiers and civilian victims of the Defensive-Patriotic War will be held today at the Kozara Barracks in Banja Luka, as part of the marking of the Day of the Third Infantry /Republika Srpska/ Regiment of the BiH Armed Forces and the Day of the Republika Srpska Army.

The RSA was formed on May 12, 1992, and by the end of the Defensive.PatrioticWar it had 210,000 soldiers. According to data from the Republic Research Centre of War, War Crimes and Tracing Missing Persons, 23,659 soldiers were killed.

After 14 years of existence, the RSA became part of the BiH Armed Forces, where its military heritage and identity are safeguarded by the Third Infantry /Republika Srpska/ Regiment.