Croatia - Military parade to celebrate Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day and the Day of Croatian Defenders, which marks the 20th anniversary of Operation Storm, Zagreb, 4Aug2015 <br />Croatia started celebrating its "liberation" with a military parade, with some 3,000 soldiers and war veterans, 300 vehicles and 30 aircraft in the capital Zagreb, gathering thousands of spectators. <br />Another ceremony, attended by top officials, will be held on Wednesday in the town of Knin, a wartime rebel Serb stronghold that Croatian troops recaptured on August 5, 1995. <br />"Operation Storm was a turning point (in the conflict), a brilliant military operation, justified and legitimate," Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic said in a speech at a defence ministry ceremony, encouraging citizens to be "proud and dignified" during the festivities. <br />The Croatian army launched Operation Storm on August 4, 1995, and in an 84-hour offensive it saw 130,000 troops recapture a region that had been in Serb hands since 1991.
