Editing Implementation Force (section)

==Background==
[[File:9th Engineer Battalion Crossing The Sava River into Bosnia, October 1996.jpg|thumb|U.S. Army vehicles with IFOR crossing the [[Sava]] using a [[pontoon bridge]]. The Brčko Bridge, seen at the right, was [[Brčko bridge massacre|destroyed in 1992]] and was still being reconstructed by [[United States Army Corps of Engineers|U.S. Army engineers]] when this photo was taken in 1996.]]
In 1995, NATO was tasked by the [[United Nations]] (UN) to carry out the provision of the [[Dayton Agreement|Dayton Peace Accords]] ending the [[Bosnian War]]. The Dayton Peace Accords were started on 22 November 1995 by the presidents of Bosnia, [[Croatia]], and [[Serbia and Montenegro|Serbia]], on behalf of Serbia and the [[Republika Srpska|Bosnian Serb Republic]]. The actual signing happened in [[Paris]] 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 Tribunal]]s 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''.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110916231119/http://www.oscebih.org/dejtonski_mirovni_sporazum/EN/ The General Framework Agreement for Peace (GFAP) in Bosnia and Herzegovina]</ref>

IFOR relieved the UN peacekeeping force [[UNPROFOR]], which had originally arrived in 1992, and the transfer of authority was discussed in [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 1031|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.<ref>[http://ftp.fas.org/irp/ops/smo/docs/ifor/bosappc.htm "Appendix C: References"], [[Federation of American Scientists]] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080926210406/http://ftp.fas.org/irp/ops/smo/docs/ifor/bosappc.htm |date=26 September 2008 }}</ref> IFOR began operations on 20 December 1995.<ref name="NATOwebsite">{{cite web|url=https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_52122.htm|title=Peace support operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina|website=[[NATO]]|access-date=18 December 2020}}</ref>

The Dayton Agreement resulted from a long series of events, notably, the failures of [[Peace plans offered before and during the Bosnian War|EU-led peace plans]], the August 1995 Croat [[Operation Storm]] and fleeing of 200,000 Serb civilians, the Bosnian Serb war crimes, in particular the [[Srebrenica massacre]], and the seizure of [[UNPROFOR]] peace-keepers as [[human shield]]s against NATO's [[1995 NATO bombing in Bosnia and Herzegovina|Operation Deliberate Force]].<ref>{{cite press release|title=NATO AIRCRAFT ATTACK BOSNIAN-SERB TANK|date=22 September 1994|publisher=[[NATO]]|url=http://www.nato.int/docu/pr/1994/p94-090.htm}}</ref>

U.S. Secretary of Defense [[William J. Perry|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).<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1995/10/08/The-United-States-and-Russia-failed-Sunday-to-resolve/1577813124800/ | title=The United States and Russia failed Sunday to resolve... | work=UPI | date=8 October 1995}}</ref> 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 {{sic|activit|es}}".<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1995/10/27/Russia-US-agreement-on-Balkans-reached/1887814766400/ | title=Russia-U.S. agreement on Balkans reached | work=UPI | date=27 October 1995}}</ref>

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]], and later from March 1996 from the Residency in [[Sarajevo]].<ref>[http://www.nato.int/sfor/MISC/resi-comp/t990921d.htm SFOR leaves Residency Compound]</ref> Admiral [[Thomas J. Lopez]] commanded the operation from 31 July to 7 November 1996, followed by General [[William W. Crouch]] until 20 December 1996.<ref name="NATOwebsite"/> Lt Gen [[Michael Walker, Baron Walker of Aldringham|Michael Walker]], Commander [[Allied Rapid Reaction Corps]] (ARRC), acted as Land Component Commander for the operation, commanding from HQ ARRC (Forward) based initially in [[Kiseljak]], and from late January 1996 from HQ ARRC (Main) in [[Ilidža]]. 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.<ref>[http://www.gbv.de/dms/tib-ub-hannover/318604868.pdf Operational Analysis Support to NATO IFOR/SFOR Operations]</ref>

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 [[Croatia]], [[Hungary]], [[Germany]], and [[Italy]] and also on ships in the [[Adriatic Sea]]). 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.{{citation needed|date=December 2017}}