Operation Riviresa

Part of Sri Lankan Civil War

Date	17 October 1995 - December 1995
Location	Jaffna, Sri Lanka
Result	Sri Lankan Military victory

Belligerents

Sri Lankan Military

LTTE

Commanders and leaders

Major General (later General) Rohan Daluwatte,
Brigadier (later Major General) Janaka Perera,
Brigadier Neil Dias,
Brigadier P.A. Karunathilaka

Velupillai Prabhakaran

Strength

20,000

Unknown

Casualties and losses

500

2,000

Operation Riviresa (Operation Sunrays), was a combined military operation launched by the Sri Lankan Armed Forces in Jaffna. Starting on the 17 October 1995, the primary objective of the operation was the capture of the city of Jaffna and rest of the Jaffna peninsula from the LTTE (the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, better known as the Tamil Tigers). It is believed that Operation Riviresa was the largest and most successful military operation in Sri Lankan Armed Forces history in recent times.

Preparations for the offensive began with the resumption of hostilities after peace talks failed following the LTTE attack on the Trincomalee naval base. The administration of President Chandrika Kumaratunga ordered active military operations against the LTTE following this attack. Planning and preparations for the operation were conducted by Major General (later General) Rohan Daluwatte who was overall Operations Commander, and under the purview of Lieutenant Colonel (later General) Anuruddha Ratwatte who was the deputy-minister of Defense.

Planning for the operation started in June 1993 under the Command of Major General Gamunu Kulatunge, who directed Col. Lucky Rajasinghe to plan the operation, assisted by Col. Mohan Rockwood as a response to the assassination of President Ranasinghe Premadasa by the LTTE on 1 May 1993. Although the Sri Lanka Army was keen on launching an operation to capture Jaffna, the then President, D. B. Wijetunga, was against the operation. As he was not sure about the armed forces capabilities to sustain the thrust and to prevent further alienating the Tamil population.

The Tiger high-command, knowing that plans were afoot to capture the City of Jaffna, launched a pre-emptive strike on Sri Lanka Army and Navy positions in the Kilali area and tried to overrun their positions at Poonaryn in November 1993. Major losses at Poonaryn left the Sri Lankan Military with the Palaly, Elephant Passs and Kayts areas, leaving the rest of the area in Jaffna to the Tigers. Since the main staging area for the attack was in Palaly, a small scale operation, code-named Operation Leap Forward (Planned and conducted by Major General Srilal Weerasooriya and Colonel Hiran Halangoda), was launched to expand the perimeter of the air base prior to Operation Riviresa expanding the holding area west of Karainagar.

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Wikipedia