The war in August 2008. On the eve of invasion ...
At the end of July 2008 the situation in the zone of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict escalated down to the limit. The Georgian armed forces started regularly shelling the capital and the villages of South Ossetia.
In the morning of July 29 the population of South Ossetia was agitated by the reports of shelling the Ossetian settlements Andis and Sarabuk. These villages were being fired with grenade launchers and small arms from the illegal posts of the Georgian police and the Georgian battalion of the Joint Peacekeeping Forces. The monitoring group of the Joint Peacekeeping Forces and the OSCE came to the ground and, in turn, came under fire. At that point, there immediately appeared correspondents of the Georgian TV. The South Ossetian side suggested that the journalists had been warned of the impending shelling of the Monitoring Group, in order to discredit the activities of the peacekeeping contingent. Ie everything indicated that it was a pre-planned action.
It is noteworthy that on the same day in Tskhinval was a delegation of the Embassy of the United States which learned the situation in a zone of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict.
It was also mentioned the subject of shelling the Ossetian villages by the Georgian side. South Ossetian authorities said they did not intend to reply to the enemy fire and give in to provocations of the Georgian power structures, but in the case of imminent danger to the inhabitants of the Republic they would have to return the fire.
Close to midnight, villagers of Sarabuk and Tliakana were again fired grenade launchers and small arms. The fire on civilian villagers was opened from illegal Georgian police posts.
After that day, there was no more doubt that Georgia was seeking an excuse to start a military incursion into South Ossetia in the near future. Evacuation of civilians continued, that subsequently saved many lives...