Operation Opera was an Israeli air raid that destroyed the Osirak nuclear reactor near Baghdad. Israel, under Prime Minister Menachem Begin, believed Iraq's president Saddam Hussein would use the French-supplied reactor to make nuclear weapons, even though Iraq said it was for peaceful purposes. Israeli F-16 fighters, escorted by F-15s, flew a long low-level route over Jordan and Saudi Arabia and bombed the reactor in a single strike. The raid was condemned by the United Nations Security Council and by many governments, including the United States, but Israel defended it as an act of self-defence. Analysts still debate whether it delayed or encouraged Iraq's nuclear ambitions.
Before and after
- 20 May 1981Birth of Iker Casillas
- 24 May 1981Discovery of Larissa
- 2 June 1981Establishment of Lençóis Maranhenses National Park
- 5 June 1981The first cases of AIDS are reported
- 7 June 1981Operation Opera
- 9 June 1981Birth of Natalie Portman
- 13 June 1981Birth of Chris Evans
- 10 July 1981Release of The Fox and the Hound
- 29 July 1981Birth of Fernando Alonso
More in Wars, politics & history
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The era
This moment belongs to the Contemporary world (1945 CE to today), the world since 1945. You can also browse everything in the 20th century.