Operation Opera
E363994
Operation Opera was a 1981 Israeli Air Force airstrike that destroyed Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor to prevent Saddam Hussein’s regime from developing nuclear weapons.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Operation Opera canonical | 3 |
| Operation Focus | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T3505168 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Operation Opera Context triple: [Ilan Ramon, tookPartIn, Operation Opera]
-
A.
Operation Whirlwind
Operation Whirlwind was the codename for the large-scale Soviet military intervention that crushed the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and reasserted Soviet control over Hungary.
-
B.
Operation Ariel
Operation Ariel was the World War II British evacuation of Allied troops and civilians from western France in June 1940, following the Dunkirk evacuation.
-
C.
Operation Spring
Operation Spring was a Canadian-led World War II offensive in July 1944 aimed at capturing key positions south of Caen during the Normandy campaign.
-
D.
Operation AL
Operation AL was a World War II Japanese naval operation closely associated with the Midway campaign, aimed at diverting U.S. forces by attacking the Aleutian Islands in Alaska.
-
E.
Operation Strike
Operation Strike was a key Allied military operation during World War II’s Tunisian campaign that contributed to the final defeat of Axis forces in North Africa.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Operation Opera Target entity description: Operation Opera was a 1981 Israeli Air Force airstrike that destroyed Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor to prevent Saddam Hussein’s regime from developing nuclear weapons.
-
A.
Operation Whirlwind
Operation Whirlwind was the codename for the large-scale Soviet military intervention that crushed the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and reasserted Soviet control over Hungary.
-
B.
Operation Ariel
Operation Ariel was the World War II British evacuation of Allied troops and civilians from western France in June 1940, following the Dunkirk evacuation.
-
C.
Operation Spring
Operation Spring was a Canadian-led World War II offensive in July 1944 aimed at capturing key positions south of Caen during the Normandy campaign.
-
D.
Operation AL
Operation AL was a World War II Japanese naval operation closely associated with the Midway campaign, aimed at diverting U.S. forces by attacking the Aleutian Islands in Alaska.
-
E.
Operation Strike
Operation Strike was a key Allied military operation during World War II’s Tunisian campaign that contributed to the final defeat of Axis forces in North Africa.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (50)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
airstrike
ⓘ
military operation ⓘ preemptive strike ⓘ |
| aircraftUsed |
F-15 Eagle
ⓘ
surface form:
F-15A Eagle
F-16 Fighting Falcon ⓘ
surface form:
F-16A Fighting Falcon
|
| alsoKnownAs |
Operation Babylon
ⓘ
Opération Opéra ⓘ |
| approvedBy |
government of Israel
ⓘ
surface form:
Israeli government
Menachem Begin ⓘ
surface form:
Prime Minister Menachem Begin
|
| belligerent |
Iraq
ⓘ
Israel ⓘ |
| casualties | 10 Iraqi soldiers killed ⓘ |
| civilianCasualties | 1 French civilian technician killed ⓘ |
| commander |
David Ivry
ⓘ
Menachem Begin ⓘ |
| conflict |
Arab–Israeli conflict
ⓘ
Arab–Israeli conflict ⓘ
surface form:
Iraq–Israel conflict
|
| country | Israel ⓘ |
| date | 1981-06-07 ⓘ |
| distanceFlown | approximately 1,000 km from Israel to target ⓘ |
| flightProfile | low-level penetration ⓘ |
| IsraeliCasualties | 0 ⓘ |
| laterAssessment | later viewed by some analysts as delaying Iraqi nuclear weapons capability ⓘ |
| legalStatus |
later cited as precedent for preemptive self-defense
ⓘ
widely condemned internationally at the time ⓘ |
| location |
Al Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Center
ⓘ
Osirak nuclear reactor ⓘ near Baghdad, Iraq ⓘ |
| namedAfter | the French name of the reactor, Osirak (Osiris-Iraq) ⓘ |
| numberOfAircraft |
6 F-15A fighter escorts
ⓘ
8 F-16A fighter-bombers ⓘ |
| objective |
to destroy Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor
ⓘ
to prevent Saddam Hussein’s regime from developing nuclear weapons ⓘ |
| operator | Israeli Air Force ⓘ |
| planningBy | Israeli Air Force ⓘ |
| predecessorEvent | Iranian airstrike on Osirak in 1980 ⓘ |
| reaction |
criticism from United States government in 1981
ⓘ
unanimous UN Security Council condemnation ⓘ |
| relatedTo |
Begin Doctrine
ⓘ
Iraqi nuclear weapons program ⓘ Osirak nuclear reactor ⓘ
surface form:
Osirak reactor
|
| result |
Israeli tactical victory
ⓘ
destruction of Osirak reactor ⓘ temporary setback to Iraqi nuclear program ⓘ |
| target |
Iraqi nuclear program
ⓘ
Osirak nuclear reactor ⓘ |
| timePeriod |
Cold War
ⓘ
Iran–Iraq War era ⓘ |
| UNSecurityCouncilResolution | United Nations Security Council Resolution 487 ⓘ |
| year | 1981 ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Operation Opera Description of subject: Operation Opera was a 1981 Israeli Air Force airstrike that destroyed Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor to prevent Saddam Hussein’s regime from developing nuclear weapons.
Referenced by (4)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
this entity surface form:
Operation Focus
subject surface form:
Israel Defense Forces