Operation Opera
| Operation Opera | |
|---|---|
| Part of Arab–Israeli Conflict | |
| Operational scope | Strategic |
| Location |
Baghdad, Iraq 33°12′30″N 44°31′30″E / 33.20833°N 44.52500°E |
| Planned by |
Menachem Begin (Prime Minister) David Ivry (Air Force commander) |
| Objective | Destruction of the Osirak nuclear reactor |
| Date | 7 June 1981 |
| Executed by |
 Israeli Air Force
|
| Outcome | Successful, reactor destroyed |
| Casualties | 10 Iraqi soldiers killed 1 French civilian killed |
Operation Opera (Hebrew: אופרה), also known as Operation Babylon, was a surprise Israeli air strike carried out on 7 June 1981, which destroyed an Iraqi nuclear reactor under construction 17 kilometers (10.5 miles) southeast of Baghdad. The operation came after Iran's unsuccessful Operation Scorch Sword operation had caused minor damage to the same nuclear facility the previous year, the damage having been subsequently repaired by French technicians. Operation Opera, and related Israeli government statements following it, established the Begin Doctrine, which explicitly stated the strike was not an anomaly, but instead “a precedent for every future government in Israel.” Israel's counter-proliferation preventive strike added another dimension to their existing policy of deliberate ambiguity, as it related to the nuclear capability of other states in the region.
In 1976, Iraq purchased an "Osiris"-class nuclear reactor from France. While Iraq and France maintained that the reactor, named Osirak by the French, was intended for peaceful scientific research, the Israelis viewed the reactor with suspicion, and said that it was designed to make nuclear weapons. On 7 June 1981, a flight of Israeli Air Force F-16A fighter aircraft, with an escort of F-15As, bombed and heavily damaged the Osirak reactor. Israel claimed it acted in self-defense, and that the reactor had "less than a month to go" before "it might have become critical." Ten Iraqi soldiers and one French civilian were killed. The attack took place about three weeks before the elections for the Knesset.
The attack was strongly criticized around the world, including in the United States, and Israel was rebuked by the United Nations Security Council and General Assembly in two separate resolutions. Media reactions were no less negative: "Israel's sneak attack ... was an act of inexcusable and short-sighted aggression", wrote the New York Times, while the Los Angeles Times called it "state-sponsored terrorism". The destruction of Osirak has been cited as an example of a preventive strike in contemporary scholarship on international law. The exact efficiency of the attack is debated by historians - it took Iraq off the brink of nuclear capability but drove its weapons program underground and cemented Saddam's ambitions of acquiring nuclear weapons. Despite international opprobrium, Operation Opera would help to secure the successful liberation of Kuwait and diminished the risk of terrorist groups in the region obtaining nuclear weapons, though it also heightened preexisting tensions with Iraq, making a future confrontation between the two powers more likely.
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