Beirut bombings
The Beirut bombings refer to a series of terrorist attacks that occurred in Lebanon during the early 1980s, notably impacting U.S. military presence in the region. The most significant incidents include the U.S. Embassy bombing on April 18, 1983, and the barracks bombing on October 23, 1983. The latter attack, a suicide bombing that targeted the Marine Corps barracks, resulted in the deaths of 241 U.S. servicemen and was one of the deadliest attacks on American forces since World War II.
These bombings took place against the backdrop of the Lebanese Civil War, which began in 1975 and involved various factions vying for control, including the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Lebanese militias. The U.S. had deployed troops in Lebanon as part of a multinational force aimed at stabilizing the country and facilitating the evacuation of PLO fighters. However, the escalating violence and hostility from local factions led to increased attacks against American personnel.
The aftermath of the bombings severely impacted U.S. involvement in Lebanon, prompting a reevaluation of security protocols for American facilities abroad and ultimately leading to the withdrawal of U.S. Marines by early 1984. The bombings underscored the complexities of foreign military engagement in conflict zones and the ongoing instability within Lebanon, which continued to experience civil strife long after the withdrawal of foreign forces.
Beirut bombings
The Event Terrorist bombings of the U.S. embassy in Beirut and the U.S. Marine compound at Beirut International Airport
Date April 18, 1983, and October 23, 1983
Place Beirut, Lebanon
The Beirut bombings resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Americans and Frenchmen and precipitated the withdrawal from Lebanon of U.S. military forces sent to promote stability in war-torn Beirut during the Lebanese Civil War.
The Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990) entered a new phase in the summer of 1982, when the Multinational Force in Lebanon (MNF), a peacekeeping force including U.S. Marines, French paratroopers, and Italian soldiers, deployed in the country. The Marine contingent entered Lebanon in August; their immediate mission was to oversee the evacuation of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from Beirut.
Wartime Chaos
Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, had become a combat zone where several factions were competing for control of the city. Fighting in Beirut had erupted in 1975. Then, Yasir Arafat’s Fatah, the leading faction within the PLO, joined other armed factions opposed to the Lebanese government. Syrian military forces intervened at the request of the Lebanese government in 1976 without resolving the crisis. Israeli forces invaded Lebanon in 1982 to expel the PLO from their bases of operation inside Lebanon and then drove into Beirut, occupying positions on the west side of the city.
Reacting to the situation, President Ronald Reagan sent special envoy Philip C. Habib to arrange a settlement. In August 1982, Habib was successful in bringing about an agreement for the evacuation of PLO fighters from Beirut. The Habib Agreement also called for the deployment of a three-nation force in the city during the period of the evacuation.
The Marines stayed in Beirut for only a short while during the withdrawal, departing on September 10, 1982. However, only fifteen days later, the Lebanese president-elect, Bashir Gemayel, was assassinated. In the resulting chaos, Israeli forces moved into West Beirut, and the Marines were recommitted to Beirut. In the succeeding weeks and months, the Americans began to ally themselves with the government of Lebanon. Anti-government factions, with the support of Syria, actively began to harass American forces, engaging them with sniper fire and occasional artillery fire.
The Embassy Bombing
On April 18, 1983, a bomb was detonated at the U.S. embassy in Beirut. The blast destroyed the front portion of the seven-story building, killing sixty-three occupants of the building, seventeen of whom were Americans. The bombing was carried out by a terrorist driving a van carrying a load of explosives.
Multinational negotiations in May of 1983 resulted in an agreement for the withdrawal of Israeli military forces simultaneous with the withdrawal of Syrian military forces. However, as the Israeli withdrawal from Beirut began, there started a resurgance in combat between local militia forces. Attacks against American forces worsened.
The Barracks Bombing
The First Battalion Eighth Marines, under the U.S. Second Marine Division, had established its headquarters at the Beirut International Airport. On the early morning of October 23, 1983, a truck driver drove into the compound and detonated a load of explosives in a suicide bombing.
The American death toll from the explosion was 241 servicemen: 220 Marines, 18 Navy personnel, and 3 Army soldiers. Sixty Americans were injured. Rescue efforts at the U.S. compound continued for days. Rescuers were harassed at times by sniper fire, and some survivors were pulled from the rubble and airlifted to hospitals for treatment.
It remains uncertain who was responsible for the bombing. Several radical Shiite militant groups claimed responsibility for the attacks. In May 2003, in a case brought by the families of the servicemen who were killed in Beirut, U.S. District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth declared that the Islamic Republic of Iran was responsible for the 1983 attack. Lamberth found that there was sufficient evidence to conclude that Hezbollah, an organization formed with the assistance of the Iranian government, had conducted the bombing operations.
President Reagan called the attack a “despicable act” and remained firm in his commitment to keep a military force in Lebanon. On October 27, 1983, President Reagan made a televised address to the United States of America. He declared that the military presence in Lebanon was important to the United States, because “peace in the Middle East is of vital concern to our nation” and “the area is key to the economic and political life of the West.” He also stated that U.S. involvement was “a moral obligation to assure the continued existence of Israel as a nation.”
Impact
Following the barracks bombing, the Marines were redeployed offshore, where they could not be targeted by terrorist bombing attacks. Unable to sustain the resolve he had expressed months before, on February 7, 1984, President Reagan ordered the Marines to begin withdrawal from Lebanon. On February 26, 1984, the last Marines left Beirut.
In despair over the departure of U.S. military forces from Beirut, the Lebanese Army collapsed in February of 1984, with many soldiers deserting to join militias. By April, the rest of the multinational force had also withdrawn from Beirut. The city remained in a state of civil war.
Israel did not begin the withdrawal of its military forces until January of 1985. By June of 1985, Israeli forces had completely withdrawn from Lebanon, with the exception of occupying a security zone inside southern Lebanon to protect the northern territories of Israel.
Along with the U.S. Embassy bombing, the barracks bombing prompted a review of the security of U.S. facilities overseas for the U.S. Department of State. The results of this review were published as the Inman Report.
Bibliography
Frank, Benis M. U.S. Marines in Lebanon, 1982-1984. Washington, D.C.: History and Museums Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. G.P.O., 1987. The official account of the U.S. Marines in Lebanon.
McWhirter, James A. A Self-Inflicted Wound: The U.S. in Lebanon 1982-1984. Carlisle Barracks, Pa. : U.S. Army War College, 1989. Critical analysis of U.S. foreign policy in Lebanon and the reaction to the Beirut bombings.
United States. Congress. House. Committee on Foreign Affairs. Subcommittee on Europe and the Middle East. The U.S. Embassy Bombing in Beirut: Hearing Before the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Its Subcommittees on International Operations and on Europe and the Middle East of the House of Representatives, Ninety-eighth Congress, First Session, June 28, 1983. Washington, D.C.: U.S. G.P.O., 1983. The official record of the congressional hearing enquiring into the embassy bombing of April of 1983.