By 1994 he had risen to the rank of major-general and, as a "general-pukovnik" and commanding officer of the Split military district he organized key military operations: the defense of Livno and Tomislavgrad from the troops of Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladić, and the ten-month war of attrition which broke the Serb defenses in the Plain of Livno, the Dinara Ridge and the Šator mountain. He led the conquest of Glamoč and Bosansko Grahovo (Operation Summer '95), which enabled him to close from the east the encirclement of Knin, the capital of the self-declared (1991–95) Republic of Serbian Krajina. This ensured conditions for the rapid success of Operation "Oluja" ("Storm") in 4–6 August 1995, during which forces under his command captured Knin.