The 15th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 15 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses the Saharan fringe (the Sahel) in Africa, three key peninsulars of Asia (between which parts of the Indian Ocean), the Pacific Ocean, an isthmus of Central America, the southern Caribbean and the Atlantic Ocean. In the Chadian-Libyan conflict of 1978 to 1987, its intra-Chad part came to be known as the "Red Line", separating opposing combatants, above all in Operation Manta.