In July 1995 , the Bosnian Serbs launched an attack on the Bosnian town of Srebrenica , ending with the deaths of approximately 8,000 civilians in the Srebrenica massacre . After the horrifying events at Srebrenica , 16 nations met at the London Conference , beginning on July 21 , 1995 , to consider new options for Bosnia . As a result of the conference , UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali gave General Bernard Janvier , the UN military commander , the authority to request NATO airstrikes without consulting civilian UN officials , as a way to streamline the process . As a result of the conference , the North Atlantic Council and the UN also agreed to use NATO air strikes in response to attacks on any of the other safe areas in Bosnia . The participants at the conference also agreed in principle to the use of large-scale NATO air strikes in response to future acts of aggression by Serbs
Srebrenica massacre
Srebrenica massacre
NATO intervention in Bosnia and Herzegovina