Operation El Dorado Canyon was the name of the joint United States Air Force and Navy air-strikes against Libya on April 15, 1986.

Reasons for the attack

After the La Belle discotheque bombing in West Berlin on April 5, which killed three people (including two US servicemen) and wounded 230 others, US President Ronald Reagan decided to strike at Libya. According to intelligence, Libyan agents from East Germany had planted the bomb and praised the attack over cables. The Reagan administration also believed Libya was supporting the Abu Nidal group, which was behind numerous attacks including the Rome and Vienna Airport Attacks of December 27, 1985. This led American military planners to draw up plans to hit terrorist targets in Tripoli and Benghazi.

The Attack

After several days of diplomatic talks, Reagan ordered the strike on Libya on April 14. F-111 aircraft flying from RAF Lakenheath in England, along with A-6, A-7, and F-18 planes from the aircraft carriers USS America and USS Coral Sea, struck five targets at 02:00 on April 15, in the hope that their destruction would reduce Libya's ability to support and train terrorists. The attack lasted about ten minutes; however, the bombs were not exactly accurate. Several targets were hit and destroyed, but civilian sites in Tripoli were hit as well. The United States was denied use of European continental bases and France denied overflight rights, forcing the use of the UK-based F-111s that forced American planes to fly around France and travel down the Atlantic Ocean coast and into the Mediterranean, an extra 1,300 miles each way that required multi in-air refueling.

Casualties

Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's adopted daughter was killed and two of his sons injured. The Colonel himself was also targeted: although several bombs exploded near his tent, he was not actually harmed. In all, some 30 civilians died in the attacks, together with an unknown number of military personnel. On the side of the attackers, two USAF captains — Fernando L. Ribas-Dominicci and Paul F. Laurence — died when their F-111 was shot down over the Gulf of Sidra.

Retaliation

There was some retaliation. Libya's response was to fire several Scud missiles at US Coast Guard stations on the Italian island of Lampedusa — these exploded harmlessly in the sea nearby. In Beirut, Lebanon, two British and one American hostage held by Hezbollah were killed. Gaddafi quashed a revolt against him and condemned the United States; while he did not specifically threaten military retaliation, some observers say this came in the form of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 on 21 December 1988.

Aftermath

Many nations condemned the attack, notably all the Arab states and France, the Soviet Union, and other nations. The US received support from Britain, Australia, Israel, and a few others. The first US attack on terror-supporting states met with limited success (it did not stop terrorist operations by Libya or any other group). Its doctrine of declaring a "war on terror" (called a "Strike Against Terror" in the 1980s press) was not repeated until 2001. Still, the attack served as an early warning of what could happen to states that supported terrorism. Margaret Thatcher's approval for use of RAF bases (and some domestic policies) lead to an unprecedented story in the Sunday Times suggesting the Queen was upset by an "uncaring" Prime Minister.