Maritime Counter-Terrorism and the Evolution of the Sri Lanka Navy

摘要

The recent success of the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) in countering the maritime wing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the Sea Tigers, serves as an interesting example of maritime counter-insurgency. Since the recommencement of full scale hostilities in 2006, the SLN steadily dismantled the once formidable power of the Sea Tigers and played a significant role in the defeat of the LTTE.rnSri Lanka's separatist Tamil insurgency, known as the 'Eelam War', began in 1983. Formed in 1975, the LTTE ascended to become the dominant militant group among Tamil separatists, notably after the strategic withdrawal of the Indian military (Indian Peace Keeping Force) in 1990 in the face of joint Government-LTTE opposition. This pre-eminence came about largely through the military proficiency, discipline and ingenuity of the LTTE, as well as its fanatical belief in an ethnically pure Tamil state, Tamil Eelam.