Operation El Dorado Canyon
| 1986 United States bombing of Libya (Operation El Dorado Canyon) |
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| 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. |
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| Belligerents | ||||||||
 United States
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 United Kingdom
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 Libya |
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| Commanders and leaders | ||||||||
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Ronald Reagan Admiral Frank Kelso |
Margaret Thatcher Elizabeth II |
Muammar Gaddafi
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| 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 |
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Decisive US victory.
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).
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