South Ossetia: four days under Georgia’s attack

The conflict in South Ossetia has already left more than 1,600 people dead and tens of thousands homeless, and the breakaway republic’s capital is in ruins. The attack was a well prepared one. During the last years Georg

The assault took place on the day the whole world was looking forward to start of the 2008 Summer Olympics in China.

Hours before the Georgian attack President Saakashvili was calling for peace and dialogue of all sides in the conflict.

And soon after the Georgian military shelled the capital of the breakaway region, Tskhinvali, with salvo fire.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev immediately called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council.

On the first day of the assault President Saakashvili announced that Georgian forces were in South Ossetia to reestablish constitutional order.

Within several hours, as soon as Russian troops entered South Ossetia, his wording made a dramatic turn, and he called it Russian aggression.

The western media broke out with headlines “Russia attacks Georgia”, “Russia bombs Georgia” and somewhere in the middle there were a few who added: Georgia attacked South Ossetia to regain control over the region.

Georgian bombing or killings of civilians in South Ossetia were hardly mentioned at all.

As the war of words is spinning up, South Ossetian people are burying the dead.

And although Tskhinvali is now controlled by the Russian troops, certain areas still come under fire and shelling from the Georgian side despite the ceasefire declaration by Georgia.