Bombing of Libya 22801 222503745 2008-06-29T18:11:38Z Ashley Pomeroy 128005 /* Retaliation */ {{Infobox Military Conflict |conflict=Operation El Dorado Canyon (April 1986) |image=[[Image:USF-111 Libya1986.JPG|300px]] |caption=A 48th Tactical Fighter Wing [[F-111]]F aircraft takes off to participate in an air strike on Libya. |date=[[April 15]], [[1986]] |place=[[Libya]] |casus= |result=Tactical U.S. Victory (disputed) |combatant1=[[Image:Flag of the United States.svg|20px]] [[United States]] |combatant2=[[Image:Flag of Libya.svg|20px]] [[Libya]] |commander1=[[Ronald Reagan]] |commander2=[[Muammar al-Gaddafi]] |strength1= |strength2= |casualties1= 1 [[F-111]]<br>2 aircrew [[KIA]] |casualties2= 3-5 [[IL-76]] transport planes<br>14 [[Mig-23]] Floggers<br>2 Helicopters<ref>Pollack, Kenneth M. ''Arabs At War, Military Effectiveness 1948-1991'' University of Nebraska Press, 2002</ref> |casualties3= 15 Libyan civilians }} The '''United States bombing of Libya''' (code-named '''Operation ''El Dorado Canyon''''') comprised the joint [[United States]] [[United States Air Force|Air Force]], [[United States Navy|Navy]] and [[United States Marine Corps|Marine Corps]] air-strikes against [[Libya]] on [[April 15]], [[1986]]. ==Origins== After years of occasional skirmishes with Libya over Libyan territorial claims to the [[Gulf of Sidra]], and years of vulnerability to Libyan-supported terrorism, especially the [[Abu Nidal]] group behind the [[Rome and Vienna airport attacks]] of [[December 27]], [[1985]], the United States contemplated a military attack to send a message about support for international terrorism. In March 1986, the United States, asserting the {{convert|12|nmi|km mi|sing=on}} limit to territorial waters recognized by the international community, sent a carrier task force to the region. Libya responded with aggressive counter-maneuvers on [[March 24]] that led to the [[Action in the Gulf of Sidra (1986)|destruction of Libyan radar systems and missile attack boats]]. Less than two weeks later on [[April 5]], a [[1986 Berlin discotheque bombing|bomb exploded]] in a [[West Berlin]] disco, [[La Belle (discotheque)|La Belle]], killing two American servicemen and a Turkish woman and wounding 200 others. The United States claimed to have obtained cable transcripts from Libyan agents in [[East Germany]] involved in the attack. {{Campaignbox Libya-US}} [[Image:F-111F GBU-10 bound for Libya.jpg|thumb|Ground crew prepares a [[48th Tactical Fighter Wing]] F-111F aircraft for an air strike on Libya.]] After several days of diplomatic talks with European and Arab partners, [[President of the United States]] [[Ronald Reagan]] ordered the strike on Libya on [[April 14]]. Eighteen [[General Dynamics F-111|F-111F]] strike aircraft of the [[48th Fighter Wing|48th Tactical Fighter Wing]], flying from [[RAF Lakenheath]] supported by four [[EF-111A Raven]]s of the [[20th Fighter Wing|20th Tactical Fighter Wing]], from [[RAF Upper Heyford]] in [[England]], in conjunction with twenty-seven [[A-6 Intruder|A-6]], [[A-7 Corsair II|A-7]], and [[F/A-18 Hornet|F/A-18]] attack aircraft from the aircraft carriers [[USS America (CV-66)|USS ''America'']], [[USS Saratoga (CV-60)|USS ''Saratoga'']] and [[USS Coral Sea (CV-43)|USS ''Coral Sea'']] on station in the [[Gulf of Sidra]] struck five targets at 02:00 on [[April 15]], in the stated objective that their destruction would send a message and reduce Libya's ability to support and train [[terrorism|terrorists]]. The United States was denied overflight rights by [[France]] and [[Spain]] as well as the use of European continental bases, forcing the Air Force portion of the operation to be flown around France and through the [[Straits of Gibraltar]], adding 1,300 <!-- nautical or statute? --> miles (2,100 km) each way and requiring multiple [[aerial refueling]]s. The attack lasted about ten minutes. Several targets were hit and destroyed, but some civilian and diplomatic sites in [[Tripoli]] were struck as well, notably the [[France|French]] [[embassy]], when a number of bombs missed their intended targets.{{Fact|date=June 2008}} ===U.S. forces and targets=== {| class="wikitable" !|Target || Planned planes <br> over target || Planned bombing || Actual planes <br> over target || Actual bombing |- |Azizyah barracks || 9 F-111Fs || 36 [[GBU-10 Paveway II|GBU-10]] 2,000 lb LGB || 3 F-111Fs bombed <br> 1 F-111F missed <br> 4 aborts <br> 1 lost || 13 hits <br> 3 misses |- |Murat Sidi Bilal camp || 3 F-111Fs || 12 GBU-10 2,000 lb LGB || 3 F-111Fs bombed || 12 hits |- |Tripoli airfield (fmr. [[Wheelus Air Base]])|| 6 x F-111Fs || 72 [[Mark 82 bomb|Mk 82]] 500 lb RDB || 5 F-111F bombed <br> 1 F-111F abort || 60 hits |- |Jamahiriyah (Benghazi) barracks || 7 A-6Es || 84 Mk 82 500 lb RDB || 6 A-6Es bombed <br> 1 A-6E abort on deck || 70 hits <br> 2 misses |- |Benina airfield || 8 A-6Es || 72 Mk 20 500 lb CBU <br> 24 Mk 82 500 lb RDB || 6 A-6Es bombed <br> 2 aborts || 60 Mk 20 hits <br> 12 Mk 82 hits |- |Tripoli air defense network || 6 A-7E || 8 [[AGM-45 Shrike|Shrikes]] <br> 16 [[AGM-88 HARM|HARMS]] || 6 A-7E fired || 8 Shrikes <br> 16 HARMS |- |Benghazi air defense network || 6 F/A-18s || 4 Shrikes <br> 20 HARMS || 6 F/A-18s fired || 4 Shrikes <br> 20 HARMS |- !| Totals || 45 aircraft || 300 bombs <br> 48 missiles || 35 bombed <br> 1 missed <br> 1 lost <br> 8 aborts || 227 hits <br> 5 misses <br> 48 homing missiles |} [https://research.maxwell.af.mil/papers/ay2003/saas/phinney.pdf] ===Libyan air defenses=== The Libyan air defense network was extensive including: * 4 Long range [[S-200|SA-5]] ''Vega'' anti-aircraft missile units with 24 launchers. * 86 [[S-75 Dvina|SA-2]] ''Volchov'' and ''Neva'' anti-aircraft missile units with 276 launchers. Covering Tripoli alone were: * 7 [[S-75 Dvina|SA-2]] ''Volchov'' anti-aircraft missile units with 6 missiles launchers per unit giving 42 launchers. * 12 [[S-125|SA-3]] ''Neva'' anti-aircraft missile units with 4 missiles launchers per unit giving 48 launchers. * 3 [[2K12 Kub|SA-6]] ''Kub'' anti-aircraft missile units with 48 launchers. * 1 [[9K33 Osa|SA-8]] ''Osa-AK'' anti-aircraft regiment with 16 launch vehicles. * 2 [[Crotale missile|Crotale II]] anti-aircraft units 60 launch pads [http://www.isn.ethz.ch/php/documents/collection_5/docs/Lybia_engl.htm Cold War International History Project] ==Casualties== A 15-month-old girl said to have been Libyan leader Colonel [[Muammar al-Gaddafi|Muammar Gaddafi]]'s adopted daughter, Hanna, was killed and two of his sons were injured. Gaddafi himself was thought to have been{{Fact|date=June 2008}} the main target but, although a bomb exploded near his tent and other bombs destroyed his house in the capital, he was not harmed. In all, at least 15 civilians died{{Fact|date=June 2008}} in the attacks, together with an unknown number of Libyan military personnel. Two USAF captains &mdash; [[Fernando L. Ribas-Dominicci]] and [[Paul F. Lorence]] &mdash; were killed when their F-111 was shot down over the [[Gulf of Sidra]]. On [[December 25]], [[1988]], Gaddafi offered to release the body of Lorence to his family through [[Pope John Paul II]]. This turned out to be Ribas-Dominicci's body, which was returned in 1989. Lorence's remains are believed to still be in Libyan hands. In 2001 [[Theodore D. Karantsalis]], a reference librarian at [[Miami-Dade College]], enlisted the aid of Congressman [[Wally Herger]]'s office to urge Libya to return Lorence's remains on behalf of his family and friends. Karantsalis also created a website and invited visitors to sign a petition to [[Congressman]] [[Lincoln Diaz-Balart]] seeking the return of Capt. Lorence's remains. On [[January 27]], [[2005]], Karantsalis filed a federal lawsuit under the [[Freedom of Information Act]] (FOIA) against the [[United States Department of Defense|Department of Defense]] and the [[Department of the Air Force]] seeking "to know where Captain Paul Lorence's remains are located." Karantsalis had hoped to locate the remains before the 20th anniversary of Lorence's death.<ref>[http://www.fletc.com Captain Paul Lorence: An American Patriot Left Behind]</ref> ==Retaliation== There was some retaliation. Libya responded by firing two [[Scud]] missiles at U.S. [[Coast Guard]] stations on the [[Italy|Italian]] island of [[Lampedusa]] which exploded far short of their targets. In [[Beirut]], [[Lebanon]], two British hostages held by the [[Abu Nidal Organization]], Alec Collett and Leigh Douglas, along with an American named Philip Padfield [[List of attacks attributed to Abu Nidal|were hanged]] in revenge. In addition, journalist [[John McCarthy (journalist)|John McCarthy]] was kidnapped and tourist Paul Appleby was murdered in [[Jerusalem]]. Gaddafi quashed an internal revolt, the organization of which he blamed on the United States. Although Gaddafi appeared to have left the public sphere for a while in 1986/87, it later emerged that he had significantly increased Libyan arms shipments to terrorist groups in this period &ndash; especially to the [[Provisional IRA arms importation#Libyan Arms|Provisional IRA]]. The Libyan government was alleged to have retaliated by ordering the hijacking of [[Pan Am Flight 73]] in [[Pakistan]] on [[September 5]], [[1986]]. The allegation did not come to light until it was reported by ''[[The Sunday Times]]'' in March 2004--days after British prime minister, [[Tony Blair]], paid the first official visit to [[Tripoli]] by a Western leader in a generation.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article1052614.ece|title=Revealed: Gaddafi's air massacre plot}}</ref> Then came the bombing of [[Pan Am Flight 103]] on [[December 21]], [[1988]], which exploded in mid-air over the town of [[Lockerbie]] in Scotland. [[Iran]] was initially thought to have been responsible for the bombing, but two Libyans were charged in 1991, one of whom was [[Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial|convicted for the crime]] on [[January 31]], [[2001]]. The Libyan Government formally accepted responsibility for the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing on [[May 29]], [[2002]], and offered $2.7 billion to compensate the families of the 270 victims.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2003/sc7868.doc.htm|title=Security Council lifts sanctions imposed on Libya after terrorist bombings of Pan Am Flight 103 and UTA Flight 772}}</ref> ==Aftermath== The attack was widely condemned in strong terms. By a vote of 79 in favor to 28 against with 33 abstentions, the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution 41/38 which "condemns the military attack perpetrated against the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya on 15 April 1986, which constitutes a violation of the Charter of the United Nations and of international law."<ref>http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/41/a41r038.htm</ref> The Government of Libya said that the United States had fallen prey to the arrogance and madness of power and wanted to become the world's policeman. It charged that any party that did not agree to become an American vassal was an outlaw, a terrorist, and a devil. A meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement said that it condemned the dastardly, blatant and unprovoked act of aggression. The League of Arab States expressed that it was outraged at the United States aggression and that it reinforced an element of anarchy in international relations. The Assembly of Heads of State of the African Union in its declaration said that the deliberate attempt to kill Libyans violated the principles of international law. The Government of Iran asserted that the attack constituted a policy of aggression, gunboat diplomacy, an act of war, and called for an extensive political and economic boycott of the United States. Others saw the United States motive as an attempt to eliminate Libya's revolution.<ref>[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1309/is_v23/ai_4539737/pg_1 UN Chronicle, August 1986]</ref> The Government of China felt that the U.S. attack violated norms of international relations and had aggravated tension in the region. The Government of the USSR believed that there was a clear link between the attack and U.S. policy aimed at subjecting countries to its diktat, at stirring up existing hotbeds of tension and creating new ones, and at destabilizing the international situation. Some observers held the opinion that Article 51 of the UN Charter set limitations on the use of force in exercising the legitimate right of self-defense in the absence of an act of aggression, and affirmed that there was no such act by Libya. It was charged that the United States did not bother to exhaust the Charter provisions for settling disputes under Article 33. Others asserted that Libya was innocent in the bombing of the West Berlin discotheque. <ref>United Nations Yearbook, 1986, Volume 40, Department of Public Information, United Nations, New York</ref> The U.S. received support from the [[United Kingdom]], [[Australia]], [[Israel]], and a few others. Its doctrine of declaring a war on what it called "terrorist havens" was not repeated until 1998, when President [[Bill Clinton]] [[Bombing of Afghanistan and Sudan (August 1998)|ordered strikes on six terrorist camps]] in [[Afghanistan]]. [[Margaret Thatcher]]'s approval of the use of [[Royal Air Force]] bases led to substantial criticism, including an unprecedented story in ''[[The Sunday Times (UK)|The Sunday Times]]'' suggesting the [[Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom|Queen]] was upset by an "uncaring" Prime Minister. Gaddafi himself responded by saying "Thatcher is a murderer...Thatcher is a prostitute. She sold herself to Reagan".<ref>{{cite book | last = Moloney | first = Ed | authorlink = Ed Moloney | title = A Secret History of the IRA | publisher = [[Penguin Books]] | date = 2002 | pages = pp. 14–15 | isbn = 0-141-01041-X}}</ref> The overall European reaction to the United States’ bombing of Libya was extremely negative. Nearly every European government opposed the American attack. Public opinion in almost every state was overwhelmingly against the action. While the United Kingdom permitted the United States to use its bases to launch the attack, both France and Spain denied [[Airline flyovers|fly-over rights]], giving rise to much [[anti-French sentiment in the United States]]. The West German government, although officially opposed to the attack, was somewhat ambivalent and understanding in post-attack statements by [[Helmut Kohl]]. Interestingly, only in [[France]], which had [[Chadian-Libyan conflict|history of conflict with Libya over Chad]], was public opinion supportive of the U.S. action, with initially about 60% approving. ==United Nations response== Every year, between at least 1994 and 2006, the [[United Nations General Assembly]] scheduled a declaration from the [[Organization of African Unity]] about the incident,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.undemocracy.com/generalassembly_49/meeting_93/pg020-bk03|title=General Assembly Session 49 meeting 93|date=[[20 December]] [[1994]]}}</ref> but systematically deferred the discussion year after year until formally putting it aside (along with several other issues which had been similarly rescheduled for years) in 2005.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.undemocracy.com/generalassembly_59/meeting_117/pg003-bk14|title=General Assembly Session 59 meeting 117|date=[[12 September]] [[2005]]}}</ref> ==1st anniversary== On the first anniversary of the bombing, April 1987, European and North American peace and solidarity activists gathered to commemorate the anniversary. After a few days of social and cultural networking with local Libyans, including a tour of Gaddafi's bombed house, the group gathered with other Libyans for a commemoration event.<ref name = "Vanderbilt">[http://openweb.tvnews.vanderbilt.edu/1987-4/1987-04-15-CBS-8.html Vanderbilt].</ref> ==20th anniversary== Early on [[April 15]], [[2006]] &ndash; to mark the 20th anniversary of the bombing raid &ndash; a concert involving U.S. singer [[Lionel Richie]] and Spanish tenor [[José Carreras]] was held in front of Gaddafi's bombed house in Tripoli. Diplomats, businessmen and politicians were among the audience of what Libya dubbed the "concert for peace". The BBC reported Lionel Richie as telling the audience: <blockquote>"Hanna [Gaddafi's adopted daughter] will be honored tonight because of the fact that you've attached peace to her name."<ref name = "BBC">[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4911434.stm Africa], BBC News.</ref></blockquote> == References == {{reflist}} ==See also== *[[1986 Berlin discotheque bombing]] *[[Crypto AG]] *[[Gulf of Sidra incident (1981)]], [[United States|U.S.]]-[[Libya]]n air engagement over territorial claim, two Libyan jets shot down *[[Action in the Gulf of Sidra (1986)]] Naval battle between libyian and US forces before the April bombing campaign *[[Gulf of Sidra incident (1989)]], U.S.-Libyan air engagement over territorial claim, two Libyan jets shot down *[[Pan Am Flight 73]] *[[Pan Am Flight 103]] *[[Freedom of Navigation|Operation Attain Document]] related to operations by U.S. Naval Forces in 1986. *[[Second Battle of Sirte]], [[World War II]] naval battle between [[Regia Marina]] and [[Royal Navy]]. *[[UTA Flight 772]] ==Further reading== *Stanik, Joseph T. ''El Dorado Canyon: Reagan's Undeclared War With Qaddafi''. [[Annapolis, Maryland]]: Naval Institute Press, 2003. ISBN 1-55750-983-2 *Venkus, Robert E. ''Raid On Qaddafi''. [[New York, New York]]: St. Martin's Press, 1992. ISBN 0-312-07073-X ==External links== *[http://www.margaretthatcher.org/speeches/displaydocument.asp?docid=106363 Margaret Thatcher's statement on US bombing of Libya] *[http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/el_dorado_canyon.htm Operation El Dorado Canyon] at globalsecurity.org *[http://www.afa.org/magazine/march1999/0399canyon.asp Operation El Dorado Canyon] from Air Force Association magazine *[http://www.paullorence.com Petition for the return of the remains of Paul Lorence] *[http://ariwatch.com/OurAlly/Libya.htm Excerpt from Victor Ostrovsky's ''The Other Side of Deception''] [[HarperCollins]] 1994 *[http://www.ausairpower.net/Eldorado-Canyon.html The Libyan Strike: How The Americans Did It (Operation El Dorado Canyon)] at [http://www.ausairpower.net Air Power Australia] [[(c)]] July 1986 *[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article1052614.ece Revealed: Gadaffi's air massacre plot] [[The Times]] [[March 28]] [[2004]] [[Category:Conflicts in 1986]] [[Category:1986 in Libya]] [[Category:History of Libya]] [[Category:Battles involving the United States]] [[Category:Airstrikes]] [[Category:1986 in the United States]] <!-- interwiki --> [[da:Bombningen af Libyen (april 1986)]] [[hr:Američki zračni udar na Libiju 1986.]] [[ja:リビア爆撃 (1986年)]] [[ru:Операция «Каньон Эльдорадо»]] [[sr:Операција Кањон Ел Дорадо]] [[sh:Operacija Kanjon El Dorado]]