Bombing of Libya (1986)

1986 United States bombing of Libya (Operation El Dorado Canyon)
Part of the Cold War
An American 48th Tactical Fighter Wing F-111F aircraft takes off from RAF Lakenheath in April 1986 to participate in an air strike against Libya.
Date 15 April 1986 Location Libya Result Ground targets destroyed. Failed Libyan Scud missile response Muammar Gaddafi survived
Belligerents
United States	Libya
Commanders and leaders
Ronald Reagan Admiral Frank Kelso	Muammar Gaddafi
Casualties and losses
1 F-111 shot down 2 aircrew killed	45 soldiers and officials killed 15–30 Libyan civilians killed 3–5 IL-76 transports destroyed 14 MiG-23s destroyed 2 helicopters destroyed 5 major ground radars destroyed

The 1986 United States bombing of Libya, code-named Operation El Dorado Canyon, comprised air strikes by the United States against Libya on Tuesday, 15 April 1986. The attack was carried out by the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps via air strikes, in retaliation for the 1986 Berlin discotheque bombing. There were 40 reported Libyan casualties, and one U.S. plane was shot down. One of the Libyan dead was a baby girl, who was reported to be Gaddafi's daughter, Hanna Gaddafi. However, there were doubts as to whether she was really killed, or whether she really even existed.

Libya represented a high priority for President Ronald Reagan shortly after his 1981 inauguration. Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was firmly anti-Israel and had supported violent organizations in the Palestinian territories and Syria. There were reports that Libya was attempting to become a nuclear power and Gaddafi's occupation of Chad, which was rich in uranium, was of major concern to the United States. Gaddafi's alignment with the Soviet Union and his ambitions to set up a federation of Arab and Muslim states in North Africa were also alarming to U.S. interests. Furthermore, then-Secretary of State Alexander Haig wanted to take proactive measures against Gaddafi because he had been using former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operatives to help set up terrorist camps (most notably Edwin P. Wilson and Frank E. Terpil).

After the December 1985 Rome and Vienna airport attacks, which killed 19 and wounded approximately 140, Gaddafi indicated that he would continue to support the Red Army Faction, the Red Brigades, and the Irish Republican Army as long as the European governments supported anti-Gaddafi Libyans. The Foreign Minister of Libya also called the massacres "heroic acts".

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