ABSTRACT

In January 1986 the Reagan administration ordered the freezing of Libya's US assets in retaliation for terrorist attacks at the Rome and Vienna airports. Against the advice of US intelligence agencies, the White House chose to confront Libya militarily in the following months. International reaction to the US raid, although somewhat subdued, was a significant factor in boosting Mu'ammar al Qadhdhafi's position in the region and preventing a coup from occurring in the immediate aftermath of the attack. If Libya had planned to break the union with Morocco, it would have done so in the immediate aftermath of the Peres visit, as Syria had. Since the US bombing of Libya, Qadhdhafi has faced problems on the regional level. In the wake of the US bombing of Libya, Qadhdhafi found himself isolated in the region, with little political support in the Arab world or elsewhere.