Sniper Alley Explained

"Sniper Alley" (Bosnian: Snajperska aleja / Снајперска алеја) was the informal name primarily for streets such as Ulica Zmaja od Bosne (Dragon of Bosnia Street) and Meša Selimović Boulevard, the main boulevard in Sarajevo which during the Bosnian War was lined with Serbian snipers' posts, and became infamous as a dangerous place for civilians to traverse. The road connects the industrial part of the city (and further on, Sarajevo Airport) to the Old Town's cultural and historic sites. The boulevard itself has many high-rise buildings giving sniper shooters extensive fields of fire.^[1]

Mountains surrounding the city were also used for sniper positions, providing a safe distance and giving an excellent view of the city and its traffic.^[2] Although the city was under constant Serb siege, its people still had to move about the city in order to survive, thus routinely risking their lives. Signs reading "Pazi – Snajper!" ("Watch out – Sniper!") became common. People would either run fast across the street or would wait for United Nations armored vehicles and walk behind them, using them as protective shields. According to data gathered in 1995, the snipers wounded 1,030 people and killed 225 - 60 of whom were children.^[3]

In popular culture

• Sniper Alley was fictionally depicted in the film The Peacemaker.
• Street is featured in Joe Kubert's book Fax from Sarajevo, where it is described as a gauntlet.
• 1997 war film Welcome to Sarajevo by director Michael Winterbottom includes several scenes and actual footage of snipers harassing residents of the besieged city.
• 1998 television movie Shot Through the Heart produced by HBO, depicts the story of two lifelong friends and expert sharpshooters, who end up on opposing sides during the Siege of Sarajevo.^[4]
• Enki Bilal depicted it in the story in the graphic novel Le Sommeil du monstre.
• 2008 documentary Shooting Robert King includes a scene where King mentions that he stood in the middle of Sniper Alley taking pictures unaware of where he was.
• The 2014 video game This War of Mine was inspired by the poor living conditions and wartime atrocities that Bosnian civilians endured during the Siege of Sarajevo where the player controls a group of civilian survivors in a makeshift-damaged house.^[5] Sniper Junction is a location based on Sniper Alley where players have to run across open ground to avoid sniper fire from a hotel. The game itself is fictional, but is a story based on the Bosnian War in Sarajevo.

See also

• Siege of Sarajevo
• Urban warfare

Notes and References

1. http://www.praguepost.com/archivescontent/31082-ridding-down-sniper-s-alley.html Ridding down Sniper's Alley
2. News: Mujib Shami . Usman . 22 December 2016 . Nawaz Sharif recalls blast in Bosnia that happened before his first trip, remembers infamous 'Sniper Alley' . .
3. Web site: Face of Mercy, Face of Hate - Sarajevo Survival Map . . 1992-04-06 . 2012-04-05.
4. Web site: Watch Shot Through The Heart . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20220925212606/https://www.msn.com/en-us/entertainment/rf-watch-online/movies/shot-through-the-heart?adlt=strict&toWww=1&redig=F402AF21126C47CFB7B6F6E480D8AB86 . 25 September 2022 . 25 September 2022 . MSN.com.
5. Web site: 2021-09-06 . A Review of "This War of Mine" by a Survivor of the Siege of Sarajevo . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20220307134059/https://www.solidaritypolicy.org/this-war-of-mine/ . 7 March 2022 . 2022-03-07 . Solidarity Policy Center . en.