August 09, 2008|By Alex Rodriguez and Bay Fang, TRIBUNE CORRESPONDENT
The harsher fighting erupted when separatist forces began shelling Georgian villages Thursday evening, just hours after Saakashvili called for a cease-fire and resumption of peace talks. Georgian military forces unleashed a barrage of shelling on the province's capital, Tskhinvali, and by morning, Georgian tanks had entered the South Ossetian capital.
After that assault, three Russian Su-24 fighter jets bombed the Georgian town of Gori and two other villages, Georgian officials said. Georgian authorities later said they shot down two Russian military aircraft, but Russian authorities denied sending any military aircraft into Georgian territory.
Later Friday, a column of Russian tanks and military trucks were moving through South Ossetia on their way to Tskhinvali.
Early Saturday, Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said that the Vaziani military base on the outskirts of the Georgian capital was bombed by warplanes overnight and that bombs fell near the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, The Associated Press reported. He also said that warplanes bombed the Black Sea port city of Poti, which has a sizable oil shipment facility.
A rugged region nestled in the foothills of the Caucasus Mountains, South Ossetia has existed as a de facto independent state within Georgian territory since a bloody civil war with Georgia in 1991-92. No country recognizes its statehood, but Russia supports the region economically and has maintained a military presence there.
- - -
SOURCE: Tribune reports
Georgia-Russia: Recent clashes
Aug. 6, 2007
A Russian fighter jet enters Georgia's aerospace and fires a missile at a village. The missile fails to detonate. Russia denies the charge, but a panel of international military experts later confirms it.
April 16, 2007
Russia announces it is strengthening ties to separatists in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, two breakaway regions of Georgia.
May 26, 2008
A Russian military jet shoots down a Georgian spy drone over Abkhazia.
Aug. 1-2, 2008
Six are killed in fighting between Georgian forces and separatists in South Ossetia.
Friday
Georgian troops invade and take control of South Ossetia. Russia threatens to retaliate.
----------
ajrodriguez@tribune.com
bfang@tribune.com
