In 1976,
Iraq purchased an Osiris-class nuclear reactor from France.
While Iraq and France said that the nuclear reactor was for peaceful scientific research,
the Israelis were suspicious.
Israel believed it could be used to make nuclear weapons,
further escalating the ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict.
The nuclear reactor known as Osirak would be built 17 kilometers southeast of Baghdad.
Israel's foreign minister Moshe Dayan initiated negotiations with France,
the U.S and Italy regarding Iraq's nuclear program
but failed to convince the French government to stop assisting Iraq.
As a result, Israel started planning for the disruption of Iraq's nuclear program.
Israeli agents were suspected of blowing up components in France awaiting shipment to Iraq
as well as the assassination of Egyptian atomic scientist.
Israel isn't the only country who perceives Iraq's nuclear program as a threat.
On the 30 September 1980, after the outbreak of the Iraq-Iran War,
Iran launched Operation Scorch Sword, bombing the nuclear reactor with 2 F-4 Phantoms.
However, due to concerns of a radioactive fallout,
the Iranians avoided striking the main dome and struck adjacent research buildings.
This damage was only temporary and those buildings were subsequently repaired.
Israel decided to perform an airstrike but the distance
between Israel and the nuclear reactor would be a challenge.
Israeli jets would have to violate Jordanian and Saudi airspace,
making aerial refueling unfeasible.
Israel eventually decided to use heavily-fueled and heavily-armed F-16s,
supported by F-15s to perform the airstrike without refueling.
Although there were fears that an attack on Iraq could lead to undesirable consequences,
only 6 out of the 16 members of the Israeli cabinet opposed the attack.
Operation Opera was supported by imagery intelligence provided by the
U.S recon satellite and Iranian F-4 Phantom recon jet in November 1980.
Meanwhile,
Israeli pilots were practicing the airstrike over the Mediterranean Sea using A-4 Skyhawks.
The Israelis discovered a blind area not monitored by Iraqi radar at the border with Saudi Arabia.
Although the Iraqis were aware of this, they did not fix the problem
as they were not expecting a war with Saudi Arabia.
Israel also had another advantage as the Iranian Air Force had previously attacked
Iraq's H-3 Air Base in western Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war, reducing Iraq's air power.
8 F-16As and 6 F-15As took off from Etzion Air Base.
The Israeli jets flew over King Hussein of Jordan who was on vacation.
Noticing the Israeli jets, he informed his government to warn the Iraqis,
but due to communication failure, the Iraqis never received the warning.
While in Jordanian airspace, Israeli pilots spoke in Saudi-accented Arabic
and told Jordanian air controllers that they were a Saudi patrol that had gone off course.
While flying in Saudi airspace they pretended to be Jordanians
using Jordanian radio signals and formations.
The Israeli jets upon entering Iraqi airspace,
maintained radio silence and flew at low altitude to avoid radar detection.
The Israeli jets arrived at the Osirak reactor complex and began releasing their Mark-84 bombs.
8 out of 16 bombs hit the reactor.
Despite the presence of Iraqi air defenses,
Israeli jets managed to evade anti-aircraft fire and returned back to base.
The attack lasted less than 2 minutes.
10 Iraqi soldiers and 1 French worker were killed.
Former Israeli Prime Minister said,
Needless to say, the attack was met with international condemnation.
Subsequently, Saddam Hussein ordered the execution of the Head of Iraq's
Western Air Defense Zone and all officers under his command above the rank of Major.
In 1991, the International Atomic Energy Agency discovered 7 nuclear sites in Iraq and concluded
that Iraq was close to the threshold of success in the production of highly-enriched uranium.
This operation gave birth to what's known as the Begin doctrine which is Israel's
policy of pre-emptive strike to prevent potential enemies from developing WMDs.
In 2007, the Israeli Air Force supported by U.S intelligence launched Operation Outside the Box
performing an airstrike on a Syrian nuclear facility,
killing 10 North Korean nuclear scientists.
Operation Olympic Games was the disruption of Iran's nuclear program
conducted by Israel and the United States via the use of computer viruses.
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