Libya, 1986 — military coup attempt
Event Summary
The dataset records an event coded as an attempted military coup in Libya on 14 April 1986, the very day that United States warplanes carried out the major bombing raid on Tripoli and Benghazi, Operation El Dorado Canyon, aimed at the government of Muammar Gaddafi in retaliation for Libyan involvement in terrorism. The dataset date coincides precisely with that attack, which struck Gaddafi's own Bab al-Azizia compound and reportedly came close to killing him. Whether the dataset records a discrete internal coup attempt or reflects the extreme instability and rumored plotting within the Libyan military around the moment of the American strikes is not clearly documented in accessible sources.
Gaddafi, who had held power since his 1969 coup and had survived numerous plots against him, weathered the 1986 crisis; he used the humiliation and the deaths caused by the raid to rally nationalist sentiment and tighten his grip, purging suspected disloyal officers. He would rule Libya for another quarter century until he was overthrown and killed in the 2011 uprising and NATO intervention.
Researched Details
Researched
Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.
Sources
Editorial Note
Cross-Reference
Only one dataset carries it. One of the three reference datasets we check against carries this event; the others do not list it. That is not a contradiction — the datasets cover different periods and use different thresholds — but it means the record has had less outside corroboration.
Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:
- Cline Center id
62004141986
How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.
Outcome and Target
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Muammar Gaddafi survived the April 1986 crisis around the US bombing of Tripoli and ruled Libya until 2011.
Baseline coding: Coup attempt failed to remove the incumbent. Recorded leader fate: remained in office; not physically harmed. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.
Baseline Dataset Citation
Baseline Source-Document Entries
Wikipedia
Los Angeles TImes
New York Times
This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →