Yugoslav-Israeli War

**The Yugoslav-Israeli War** or the **Five Day War** was a conflict fought from the 3rd to the 7th of March 2021 between the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia with support from Tibet and New Israel with support from Japan, the Confederate States of America, South Sudan, and Arstotzka. The war was the culmination of tensions between Yugoslavia and New Israel which had started weeks earlier. It is the only major conflict between separate nations in modern Realm history to not be considered a Great Realm War as well as the shortest major conflict in Realm history. The official death toll is tallied at nearly 75,000 with the Israeli-Japanese coalition losing over 22,000 and Yugoslavia and Tibet losing over 50,000 in total, making it the second least deadly major war in Realm history.

## Background

Tensions began in the Middle East with the creation of the State of New Israel by Prime Minister A. Sheckson who made inflammatory statements towards many of the Realm's foremost powers. However, relations between New Israel and Yugoslavia were initially warm with New Israel granting Yugoslavia control over the Central African Republic which had been recently ceded by the GTR. Relations soured, however, when Yugoslavia was accused of the theft of Japanese rifles which were being shipped to New Israel. Yugoslavia denied the claims when the same rifles were found by UN inspectors in a bunker in the country. New Israel then demanded the return of the CAR and amassed their forces along the border with help from South Sudan, a Japanese puppet state.

Minutes before troops were to cross the border, Yugoslavia granted control of the CAR to New Israel and they secured it on March 1st. New Israel, with the official backing of Japan, still pursued an expansionist anti-Yugoslav policy, in the meantime, butting heads with other countries like the GTR and Dexistan.

To complicate tension and instability in Yugoslavia, President my\_ballz\_itch of Yugoslavia died the day of the UN meeting that was supposed to resolve the seemingly imminent conflict and was replaced by a mysterious confidant practically unknown by the Yugoslavian public named Rock Southbarc. The death of the dictator in Yugoslavia brought massive celebrations in Yugoslavia including restaurants giving free meals. These celebrations were subsequently dispersed by the police as the fate of the country became more and more apparent.

A UN meeting was declared to occur on March 2nd in a last ditch effort to sue for peace which was attended by the parties involved as well as the two of the three great powers (Dexistan did not attend). The UN peace talks did not last long as after mere minutes of entering the Diplomatic Meeting Room on the top floor, New Israel declared war on Yugoslavia with the support of Japan, South Sudan (ostensibly a Japanese puppet), Arstotzka, and the Confederate States of America (CSA). The only ally of Yugoslavia was Tibet on the grounds that "nations should not be trampled over because powerful interests want them to be."

## Battles

### Battle of the Wall

A day after the declaration of war by New Israel, the combined forces of New Israel, Japan/South Sudan, Arstotzka, and the CSA launched a swift invasion of Yugoslavia. The first obstacle for the fleet of armored vehicles was a large wall constructed by Yugoslavia after the revolution in the CAR in order to contain, combat, and cauterize battle spillover and illegal immigration but was soon given modifications to suit its role as a military obstacle of New Israel. Machine gun nests, emergency flares in case of war, and even some artillery emplacements were installed along the more than 100 mile wall.

There was stiff resistance by Yugoslavian troops while primarily South Sudanese and New Israeli forces attempted to scale and blow holes in the wall. Several airstrikes were ordered to bring down the wall but every single one was brought down by Yugoslavian artillery, leading to four lost drones for Japan. Hundreds of mostly Israeli infantrymen were killed attempting to capture the walls, but after several hours, the 2nd New Jerusalem Battalion successfully captured a weak point in a heavily forested area of the border. This news both demoralized the Yugoslavian troops while also allowing for these now objectiveless troops to flank and destroy defending Yugoslavian positions. In just under an hour after this breach, the border wall was secured, with some parts demolished, which cleared the way for the full scale invasion of Yugoslavia.

### Heartlands Offensive

By this point, most organized Yugoslav resistance had broken with primarily Sneed Waffen mercenaries, trying to harass and delay the advance of coalition forces, using special sniper units and IEDs to hinder the advance of infantry and vehicles respectively. In the only air to air combat to take place in this conflict, a lone Chuckwaffe CV-1984 conducting reconnaissance and air support was shot down by a squadron of unknown Japanese stealth aircraft, the hired pilot was never found. The use of lightweight armored vehicles was crucial to the Israeli war effort which is often referred to by historians as לוחמת תאורה (translating literally to "lighting warfare"). This extensive use of armoured trucks and various utility vehicles is estimated to have shaved off several days from the fighting.

This offensive push was not only opposed by Sneed Waffen but also many nationalist miniature militia groups that independently decided to do as much damage to the Israeli war effort as possible including firearms, explosives, and even chemical weapons, most notably anthrax. Although these groups could not stand a chance in a one-on-one battle with these militaries, they disrupted the supply lines as well as sowed confusion and chaos among command due to their assassinations of various field officers. Regardless, this offensive was not opposed in a way that could shift the tide of the war and thus the Israeli-Japanese coalition advanced on Sarajevo.

### Invasion of Sarajevo

The invasion of Sarajevo was initiated by reconnaisse units of the New Israeli military on the 6th of March when they engaged in light skirmishes with the garrison at Sarajevo. These preliminary Israeli units took substantial losses from these engagements, leading to a retreat by 10 AM. Five hours later, these same reconnaisse units arrived with substantial backup from New Israel and South Sudan including tanks, artillery, and thousands of ground forces. It was at this point President Rock\_Southbarc, observing the border, which was more than one hundred miles away, from the balcony of his palace that he allegedly told his generals "The hordes of Satan are coming. Blow the fuse.".

Areas all around Yugoslavia from the coastal villages to the foothills exploded from beneath. More than fifteen thousand Israeli, Sudanese, Japanese, Arstotzkan, and Confederate as well as Tibetan and Yugoslavian troops were killed with hundreds of vehicles lost to the smoke and rubble. These explosives were buried more than twenty yards below the surface at any given point, surpassing all metal detection technology. The earth erupted with entire hills being leveled and craters forming throughout the territory. This single move devastated both militaries and much of the countryside in a last ditch attempt to turn the tide of the war. Although this action virtually crippled all sides involved, it was too late to stop the collapse of Yugoslavia.

After these heavy losses, Sneed Waffen cashed their contracts and took the remains of the Yugoslavian reserves as compensation, departing on civilian ships through the Bay of Pigs. Their efforts are estimated to have killed more than eight thousand Japanese-Israeli coalition soldiers and extended the war substantially. Nevertheless, this sort of self imposed bombing was unprecedented on the Realm and struck fear into the hearts and minds of every nation's citizens, knowing they could be caught in such a massive crossfire.

Despite the massive damage done to every side by the bombing, the invasion of Sarajevo proper began with limited resistance from the virtually non-existent Yugoslavian military. The city itself was poorly defended and the remnants of the armies of the Israeli-Japanese coalition had easily captured the gates by the evening. There were sporadic skirmishes throughout the night in the city but things were calm compared to the events earlier that day.

In the morning, the coalition's armies advanced and secured the city of Sarajevo with almost no resistance, civilian or otherwise. The only obstacle in the way of the total capitulation of Yugoslavia was the Presidential Mansion, a massive complex of security and residential structures with dozens of staff on call 24/7. Rock Southbarc pre-emptively lined the complex with explosives in the inevitable event of an attack on the Mansion.

### Capture of Rock Southbarc

In the early morning of March 7th, a special forces squad of 26 Mista'arvim (counter terrorism special forces) and two dogs from the IDF boarded two helicopters from Sarajevo in an effort to extract the President of Yugoslavia, preferably alive, from his complex. They touched ground on a nearby hill at 4:34 AM and walked more than a half a mile to the compound itself. They cut a roughly four foot hole in the electric fence and infiltrated the courtyard of the facility, killing two Yugoslavian guards before entering through a remote window. They continued throughout the mansion, dispatching guards, mainly with knifes to maintain silence, although silenced pistols were used.

After more than 30 minutes of searching, they found the room of Rock Southbarc. They realized they could not progress without killing the guards in front and one solider, by the name of I\_ROVE\_SHEKELZ1488, raised his Galil, aiming to kill the guard on the left. The walls and floor then exploded around them, throwing off his aim and blowing shrapnel into his left arm. This explosion all throughout the facility killed dozens including 17 of the Mista'arvim special forces as well as one of their dogs. This massive explosion also destroyed or harmed much of the facility leading to a power outage in some areas as well as destroyed walls and collapsed stairs. The remaining Israeli Mista'arvim advanced on Rock Southbarc's room, shaken and injured by the blast.

One attempted to open the door but was shot by a 12 gauge pump action shotgun in the abdomen through the wood, sending them sprawled out on the floor, leading them to die from their injuries before the raid would end. They then devised a more nuanced strategy: they shot an entire magazine's worth of rounds into the door to deter anyone away and then threw a flashbang and a smoke grenade respectively. The remaining eight agents rushed the smoke filled room, firing wildly hoping to seek out the hostile and kill them. Suddenly, another two collapsed to the floor after a shotgun blast, one dying instantly with the other mortally wounded. After several moments of complete chaos, a burst of Uzi rounds found their mark and with a thud and a clatter, Rock Southbarc was downed.

The remaining six able-bodied IDF soldiers and the single German Shepherd, grabbed his unconscious body, hogtied him, and rappelled out of the nearby window. Later photographic evidence found an M60 belt fed machine gun on a bipod at the foot of Southbarc's bed as well as a variety of handheld explosives in his open closet. While extracting him, they also faced fire from the remaining guards, who were unaware they had injured and captured Southbarc. The commandos ran the half of a mile to the extraction point, loaded him onto the helicopter, and had taken off by about 6:55 AM. The other helicopter, not carrying any personnel (aside from the two pilots) or Southbarc was shot down by an anti-air artillery implement mounted on top of the facility. Rock Southbarc was rushed to New Jerusalem General Hospital and stabilized by that evening. Although the mission's primary objective had been achieved, it had done so at an unusually high loss of life and property.

## Post-War and Treaty

With the Yugoslavian military practically disintegrated, all major locations occupied, and their leader captured, the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was brought to a brutal end as was the Yugoslav-Israeli War, otherwise known as the Five Day War. Rock Southbarc survived the raid on the explicit order of A. Sheckson and was supposed to be brought to trial in the UN International Human Rights Court with every nation playing some role however this trial was postponed by Japanese and Israeli delegations for several months.

Rock Southbarc reportedly committed suicide in his cell on June 4th, although suspicions about the authenticity of his supposed suicide have been raised by many. In actuality, the body was that of a different albeit similar looking inmate. It was later learned that Rock Southbarc had escaped prison months earlier and stowed away on a commercial ship to found a small community called Gold Hills in a mesa biome east of the Balkans. He was later discovered hiding in a storage closet by Teutonic military police on a supposed "business trip" in San Fierro on July 14th. He was released later that day after his personal attorney informed a judge that the statute of limitations for Southbarc's alleged crimes expired more than a month earlier. This decision was met surprisingly by the indifference of Japan and the continued radio silence of New Israel.

Yugoslavia was occupied and re-declared New Slavia under the control of Arstotzka on March 8th. A massive infrastructural project was undertaken by all members of the Israeli-Japanese coalition in order to rebuild Yugoslavia into a prosperous and wealthy territory of Arstotzka after the horrific bombings during the war. Yugoslavian citizens were grateful to finally have new leadership and hoped for a new age of prosperity in their land but soon realized that Arstotzka was the same socialistic totalitarian dictatorship, just with a new flag.

In the immediate aftermath of the Yugoslav-Israeli War, tensions between New Israel and the GTR as well as Dexistan largely subsided. Most scholars believe this is because of the destruction of much of New Israel's military as well as already increased deficit spending in light of the war. Trade and travel opened up between New Slavia and the Gaza Strip for the first time in weeks and aid shipments, both governmental and from private charities, arrived in New Slavia from all over the Realm.

This new era of diplomatic easing and opened trade benefitted most nations, however, this did not stop Japan's gaze from turning to the nation of Tibet, an unofficial belligerent in the war whose Sneed Waffen mercenaries were heavily involved in the fighting and inflicted upwards of 8,000 casualties on the Japanese-Israeli coalition. This support of Yugoslavia as well as previous tensions between them including aerial exercises over Tibet and a military build-up on both sides, caused an atmosphere fraught with tension and mistrust between them. Tibet's continued defense of Yugoslavia including during the criminal proceedings against Rock Southbarc further elevated tensions.