The Implementation Force (IFOR) was a

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

-led multinational

peace enforcement Peace enforcement is the use of various tactics, most notably military force to compel peace in a conflict, generally against the will of combatants. Peace enforcement missions permit the use of non-defensive armed force, unlike peacekeeping opera ...

force in

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

under a one-year mandate from 20 December 1995 to 20 December 1996 under the codename ''Operation Joint Endeavour''.

Background

In 1995, NATO was tasked by the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

(UN) to carry out the provision of the Dayton Peace Accords ending the

Bosnian War The Bosnian War ( / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. Following several earlier violent incid ...

. The Dayton Peace Accords were started on 22 November 1995 by the presidents of Bosnia,

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

, and

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

, on behalf of Serbia and the Bosnian Serb Republic. The actual signing happened in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

on 14 December 1995. The peace accords contained a General Framework Agreement and eleven supporting annexes with maps. The accords had three major goals: ending of hostilities, authorization of military and civilian program going into effect, and the establishment of a central Bosnian government while excluding individuals who are serving sentences or under indictment by the International War Crimes Tribunals from taking part in the running of the government. IFOR's specific role was to implement the military Annexes of ''The General Framework Agreement for Peace (GFAP) in Bosnia and Herzegovina''. IFOR relieved the UN peacekeeping force

UNPROFOR The United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR; also known by its French acronym FORPRONU: ''Force de Protection des Nations Unies'') was the first United Nations peacekeeping force in Croatia and in Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and ...

, which had originally arrived in 1992, and the transfer of authority was discussed in Security Council Resolution 1031. Almost 60,000 NATO soldiers in addition to forces from non-NATO nations were deployed to Bosnia. Operation Decisive Endeavor (SACEUR OPLAN 40105), beginning 6 December 1995, was a subcomponent of Joint Endeavor. IFOR began operations on 20 December 1995. The Dayton Agreement resulted from a long series of events, notably, the failures of EU-led peace plans, the August 1995 Croat

Operation Storm Operation Storm ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Operacija Oluja, separator=" / ", Операција Олуја) was the last major battle of the Croatian War of Independence and a major factor in the outcome of the Bosnian War. It was a decisive victory f ...

and fleeing of 200,000 Serb civilians, the Bosnian Serb war crimes, in particular the

Srebrenica massacre The Srebrenica massacre, also known as the Srebrenica genocide, was the July 1995 genocidal killing of more than 8,000 Bosniak Muslim men and boys in and around the town of Srebrenica during the Bosnian War. It was mainly perpetrated by unit ...

, and the seizure of

peace-keepers as human shields against NATO's

Operation Deliberate Force Operation Deliberate Force was a sustained air campaign conducted by NATO, in concert with the UNPROFOR ground operations, to undermine the military capability of the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS), which had threatened and attacked UN-desig ...

. U.S. Secretary of Defense William Perry and his Russian counterpart, Pavel Grachev agreed on 8 October that the peacekeeping operation name will be Implementation Force of the Peace Agreement on Bosnia-Herzegovina, that is without reference to NATO; other differences were unresolved at that time (chain of command, area of command and control). On 27 October they agreed that "the Russian unit will not be part of the NATO peacekeeping force, but will perform special engineering, transport and construction ". Admiral Leighton W. Smith Jr., Commander in Chief Allied Forces Southern Europe (CINCSOUTH), served as the first Joint Force Commander for the operation, also known as Commander IFOR (COMIFOR). He commanded the operation from IFOR's deployment on 20 December 1995 from headquarters in

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

, and later from March 1996 from the Residency in

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...

. Admiral Thomas J. Lopez commanded the operation from 31 July to 7 November 1996, followed by General William W. Crouch until 20 December 1996. Lt Gen Michael Walker, Commander

Allied Rapid Reaction Corps The Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC) is a rapid reaction force maintained by NATO. It is capable of deploying a High Readiness Force (Land) Headquarters at short notice for operations and crisis response. History The ARRC was created on 1 ...

(ARRC), acted as Land Component Commander for the operation, commanding from HQ ARRC (Forward) based initially in

Kiseljak Kiseljak ( sr-cyrl, Кисељак) is a town and municipality located in Central Bosnia Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It lies in the valley of the Fojnica River, the Lepenica and the ...

, and from late January 1996 from HQ ARRC (Main) in

Ilidža Ilidža ( sr-cyrl, Илиџа, ) is a spa town and a municipality located in Sarajevo Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It has a total population of 66,730 with 63,528 in Ilidža itself, and i ...

. This was NATO's first ever out-of-area land deployment. The Land Component's part of the operation was known as Operation Firm Endeavour. At its height, IFOR involved troops from 32 countries and numbered some 54,000 soldiers in-country (BiH) and around 80,000 involved soldiers in total (with support and reserve troops stationed in

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

and also on ships in the

Adriatic Sea The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Se ...

). In the initial phases of the operation, much of the initial composition of IFOR consisted of units which had been part of UNPROFOR but remained in place and simply replaced their United Nations insignia with IFOR insignia.

Components

NATO member states that contributed forces included Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Non-NATO nations that contributed forces included; Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Morocco, New Zealand, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden, Russia, and Ukraine. The tasks of the Land Component were carried out by three Multi National Divisions: * Multi-National Division (South-East),

Mostar Mostar () is a city and the administrative centre of Herzegovina-Neretva Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the historical capital of Herzegovina. Mostar is situated on the Neretva Riv ...

– French led. Also known as the 'Division Salamandre.' The divisional headquarters was provided by 6th Light Armored Division then 7th Armoured Division. ** French Brigade Alpha, Jablanica ***

2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment The 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment () is the only airborne regiment of the Foreign Legion in the French Army. It is one of the four infantry regiments of the 11th Parachute Brigade and part of the spearhead of the French rapid reaction force. Si ...

***Moroccan Battalion -

Igman Igman ( sr-cyrl, Игман, ) is a mountain plateau in central Bosnia and Herzegovina. Geologically, Igman is part of the Dinaric Alps and formed largely of secondary and tertiary sedimentary rock, mostly Limestone. It is located southwest of S ...

** French Brigade Bravo,

*** 6th Marine Infantry Parachute Regiment *** 21st Marine Infantry Regiment ***Ukrainian Battalion ** Italian Bersaglieri Brigade "Garibaldi",

*** 8th Bersaglieri Regiment ***Portuguese Battalion ***Egyptian Battalion ** 42nd Spanish Mountain Brigade,

Medjugorje Medjugorje (, ) is a village in the municipality of Čitluk in Herzegovina-Neretva Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Since 1981, it has become a popular site of Catholic pilgrimage due to Our ...

- Col Julio López-Guarch Muro *** 64th “Galicia” Mountain Cazadores Regiment - Morstar *** 11th "España" Light Armored Cavalry Regiment -

Trebinje Trebinje ( sr-Cyrl, Требиње, ) is a city and municipality in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is the southernmost city in Bosnia and Herzegovina and is situated on the banks of the Trebišnjica river in the region of East Her ...

* Multi-National Division (South-West),

Banja Luka Banja Luka ( sr-Cyrl, Бања Лука, ) or Banjaluka ( sr-Cyrl, Бањалука, ) is the List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, second largest city in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the largest city in Republika Srpska. Banja Luka is the tr ...

– British led. The British codename for their armed forces' involvement in IFOR was Operation Resolute. Division headquarters was provided by 3 (UK) Division then 1st (UK) Armoured Division.Lord, p. 304 ** 4th UK Armoured Brigade,

Šipovo Šipovo ( sr-cyrl, Шипово) is a town and municipality in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated in the southern part of the Bosanska Krajina region. As of 2013, it has a population of 10,293 inhabitants, while the town of � ...

- Brig

Richard Dannatt General (United Kingdom), General Francis Richard Dannatt, Baron Dannatt, (born 23 December 1950) is a retired senior British Army officer and member of the House of Lords. He was Chief of the General Staff (United Kingdom), Chief of the Gener ...

***2nd Bn,

The Light Infantry The Light Infantry was an infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the Light Division. The regiment was one of four 'large' regiments formed after the 1966 Defence White Paper through the amalgamation of units of the Light Infantry Bri ...

***1st Bn,

Royal Regiment of Fusiliers The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers (often referred to as, "The Fusiliers") is an infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the Queen's Division. Currently, the regiment has two battalions: the 1st Battalion, part of the Regular Army, is an ...

***Dutch Battalion - Šišava ***Malaysian Battalion -

Livno Livno ( Serbo-Croatian Cyrillic: ''Ливно'', ) is a town and the administrative center of the Township of Livno and Canton 10 of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated on the river Bis ...

** 2nd Canadian Mechanized Brigade, Ćoralići - Brig Gen Bruce Jeffries ***Canadian Battalion ***

Queen's Royal Hussars The Queen's Royal Hussars (The Queen's Own and Royal Irish) (QRH) is the most senior armoured regiment in the British Army, equipped with Challenger 2 main battle tanks. The regiment was formed on 1 September 1993 from the amalgamation of the Quee ...

Mrkonjić Grad Mrkonjić Grad ( sr-cyrl, Мркоњић Град, ) is a town and municipality in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is located in the Bosanska Krajina region, between Banja Luka and Jajce. As of 2013, the municipality has a populatio ...

***Czech Battalion - Ljubija * Multi-National Division (North), Camp Eagle at

Tuzla Tuzla (, , ) is the List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, third-largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the administrative center of Tuzla Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. As of 2013, it has a population of 110,979 inha ...

– US led. Task Force Eagle. The US Army 1st Armored Division under the command of Major General William L. Nash, constituted the bulk of the ground forces for Task Force Eagle. They began to deploy on 18 December 1995 and would return to Germany in late 1996. ** 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division, Camp Kime - Col Gregory Fontenot. *** 1st Sqdn, 1st Cavalry - Camp Gentry ***3rd Bn, 5th Cavalry - Camp McGovern ***4th Bn, 67th Armor - Camp Stephens ** 2nd Brigade, 1st Armored Division, Camp Lisa - Col

John Batiste John Robinson Batiste (born October 7, 1952, in Fairfax County, Virginia) is a retired officer of the United States Army, author, and the co-founder of Batiste Leadership. Military career John Batiste was commissioned as an infantry officer fro ...

***3rd Sqdn, 4th Cavalry - Camp Molly, Camp Alicia ***4th Bn, 12th infantry - Camp Demi, Camp Pat ***2nd Bn, 68th Armor - Camp Linda ** 1st Russian Separate Airborne Brigade, Camp Ugljevik - Col Alexander Ivanovich Lentsov ***1st Airborne Battalion -

Priboj Priboj ( sr-Cyrl, Прибој, ) is a town and municipality located in the Zlatibor District of southwestern Serbia. The population of the town is 13,172, while the population of the municipality is 23,514. Geography The municipality of Priboj i ...

***2nd Airborne Battalion - Simin Han ** Nordic-Polish Brigade,

Doboj Doboj ( sr-Cyrl, Добој, ) is a city in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated on the banks of the Bosna (river), Bosna river, in the northern region of Republika Srpska. As of 2013, it has a population of 71,441 inhabita ...

- Danish Brigadegeneral Finn Særmark-Thomsen ***Danish Battalion (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania each provided a platoon size element to reinforce the battalion) - Camp Dannevirke, Camp Valhalla *** Swedish Battalion - Camp Oden *** Polish Battalion -

Teslić Teslić ( sr-cyrl, Теслић) is a town in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated in the central part of Republika Srpska, on the banks of the Usora (river), Usora River. As of 2013, the town has a population of 7,518 inhabita ...

Žepče Žepče ( sr-cyrl, Жепче) is a town and municipality located in Zenica-Doboj Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated in central Bosnia and Herzegovina, between Doboj and Zenica. ...

***Finnish Engineer Battalion - Camp Jussi ***Norwegian Logistics Battalion - Modrica ** Turkish Brigade,

Zenica Zenica ( ; ) is a city in Bosnia and Herzegovina and an administrative and economic center of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina's Zenica-Doboj Canton. It is located in the Bosna (river), Bosna river valley, about north of Sarajevo. The ...

- Col Ahmet Berberoglu ***Turkish Battalion ***Romanian Engineer Battalion On 20 December 1996, the task of IFOR was taken over by SFOR. In turn, SFOR was replaced by the European EUFOR Althea force in 2004. NATO began to create service medals once it began to support peacekeeping in the former Yugoslavia, which led to the award to IFOR troops of the

NATO Medal The NATO Medal is an international military decoration which is awarded to various militaries of the world under the authority of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). It is manufactured by Eekelers-Centini Intl, of Hemiksem, Belgium. Ba ...

Gallery

File:Two Russian BTR 80 personnel carriers, commanded by LT Aleksei Terebov, Military Police, Platoon Leader, 1ST Battalion, Airborne Brigade, 76th Airborne Division, follow a high mobil - DPLA - d8e506033fdf01d054e5ecbe7d10cc4c.jpeg, Two Russian

BTR-80 The BTR-80 () is an 8×8 wheeled Amphibious vehicle, amphibious armoured personnel carrier (APC) designed in the Soviet Union. It was adopted in 1985 and replaced the previous vehicles, the BTR-60 and BTR-70, in the Soviet Army. It was first de ...

APCs following an American

Humvee The High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV; colloquial: Humvee) is a family of Military light utility vehicle, light, four-wheel drive Military vehicle#Military trucks, military trucks and utility vehicles produced by AM General. It ...

Zvornik Zvornik ( sr-cyrl, Зворник, ) is a city in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 2013, it had a population of 58,856 inhabitants. Zvornik is located on the Drina River, on the eastern slopes of Majevica mountain, at the altitude of ...

File:BTR-80 and Bradley.jpg, An American

M2 Bradley The M2 Bradley, or Bradley IFV, is an American infantry fighting vehicle that is a member of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle family. It is manufactured by BAE Systems Land & Armaments (formerly United Defense) and entered service in 1981, with fi ...

and a Russian BTR-80 during a patrol near Zvornik File:Centauro01.JPEG, An

Italian Army The Italian Army ( []) is the Army, land force branch of the Italian Armed Forces. The army's history dates back to the Italian unification in the 1850s and 1860s. The army fought in colonial engagements in China and Italo-Turkish War, Libya. It ...

B1 Centauro The Centauro is a family of Italian military vehicles originating from a wheeled tank destroyer for light to medium territorial defense and tactical reconnaissance. It was developed by a consortium of manufacturers, the Società Consortile Iveco ...

during a patrol in Bosnia-Herzegovina as part of IFOR during 1996 File:Swedish soldier in Bosnia-Herzegovina 1996.JPEG, A Swedish soldier manning a civilian checkpoint leading to the Joint Civilian Commission meeting in

File:Danish Leopard 1A5 destroys a Serbian M55 AA gun 1996.jpg, A Danish

Leopard 1 The Kampfpanzer Leopard, subsequently Leopard 1 following the introduction of the successive Leopard 2, is a main battle tank designed by Porsche and manufactured by Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, Krauss-Maffei in West Germany, first entering service ...

preparing to drive over and crush a Serbian Zastava M55 anti-air gun File:IVECO - OTO Melara Centauro B1 close up.JPEG, The crew of an Italian

deployed as part of IFOR File:Unimog truck of the Bundeswehr in Croatia.JPEG, German

Unimog The Unimog (pronunciation in American English: ''YOU-nuh-mog''; British English: ''YOU-knee-mog''; German: , ) is a Daimler Truck line of multi-purpose, highly offroad capable AWD vehicles produced since 1948. Utilizing engine-driven power tak ...

medical vehicles in

Trogir Trogir () is a historic town and harbour on the Adriatic coast in Split-Dalmatia County, Croatia, with a population of 10,107 (2021) and a total municipal population of 12,393 (2021). The historic part of the city is situated on a small island ...

File:British Army vehicles convoy through Kupres during deployment - DPLA - 4efbc2d5315644ee45092693c2848c70.jpeg, A British convoy passing through

Kupres Kupres ( sr-cyrl, Купрес) is a town and the seat of the Municipality of Kupres in Canton 10 of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. As of 2013, the municipality has a population of 5,057 inhabitant ...

File:Greek Army - IFOR - Bosnian elections DD-SD-00-00344.jpg, Greek soldiers guarding a truck carrying polling equipment for the

1996 Bosnian general election General elections were held in Bosnia and Herzegovina on 14 September 1996.Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p330 Voter turnout was 79.40% in the parliamentary election and 80.42% in the presidential ...

Notes

External links

Information on Operation Joint Endeavour
on the NATO Website {{Authority control Military operations involving NATO History of Republika Srpska NATO-led peacekeeping in the former Yugoslavia Military units and formations of NATO Military history of Bosnia and Herzegovina United States Marine Corps in the 20th century Military units and formations established in 1995 Military units and formations disestablished in 1996 Military operations involving Portugal

Background

Components

Gallery

See also

Notes

Further reading

External links