Some 120 soldiers of the UK Parachute Regiment arrived in Bosnia on Thursday to take part in a military exercise conducted by the European Union Force, EUFOR, which is deployed here to guarantee the peace established by the agreement that ended the country’s 1992-95 war.

The Parachute Regiment, colloquially known as the Paras, is the airborne infantry regiment of the British Army. They will take part in the ‘Quick Response 2018’ exercise that will take place from September 4th to 7th in the areas of Sarajevo, Tuzla and Brcko.

EUFOR said the exercise will again bring together BiH law enforcement agencies, Armed Forces of BiH and EUFOR, in order to test their respective contingency plans.

EUFOR inherited the mission from NATO which deployed in Bosnia in 1995 to implement the Dayton Peace Accord. From the initial 60,000 NATO troops, the deployment shrunk down to a few thousand EU forces. Those, however, are able to draw on mobile and versatile Over the Horizon Reserve forces, if required, to support Bosnia’s armed forces in dealing with eventual security threats.

EUFOR regularly rehearses such a scenario and this year troops from Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, Italy, Romania and the UK will take part in the exercise along with the NATO Kosovo force.

“I would like to highlight that EUFOR’s presence will continue to support Bosnia and Herzegovina’s effort to maintain a safe and secure environment on the country’s path to euroatlantic accession,” EUFOR’s Chief of Staff, Gabor Horvath, said.

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