Early on a Sunday morning, October 23, 1983, two truck bombs struck buildings in Beirut, Lebanon, housing American and French service members of the Multinational Force in Lebanon (MNF), a military peacekeeping operation during the Lebanese Civil War. The attack killed 307 people: 241 U.S. and 58 French military personnel, six civilians, and two attackers.
The first suicide bomber detonated a truck bomb at the building serving as a barracks for the 1st Battalion 8th Marines (Battalion Landing Team – BLT 1/8) of the 2nd Marine Division, killing 220 marines, 18 sailors and three soldiers, making this incident the deadliest single-day death toll for the United States Marine Corps since the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II and the deadliest single-day death toll for the United States Armed Forces since the first day of the Tet Offensive in the Vietnam War. Another 128 Americans were wounded in the blast; 13 later died of their injuries, and they are counted among the number who died. An elderly Lebanese man, a custodian/vendor who was known to work and sleep in his concession stand next to the building, was also killed in the first blast. The explosives used were later estimated to be equivalent to as much as of TNT.
Minutes later, a second suicide bomber struck the nine-story Drakkar building, a few kilometers away, where the French contingent was stationed; 55 paratroopers from the 1st Parachute Chasseur Regiment and three paratroopers of the 9th Parachute Chasseur Regiment were killed and 15 injured. It was the single worst French military loss since the end of the Algerian War. The wife and four children of a Lebanese janitor at the French building were also killed, and more than twenty other Lebanese civilians were injured.
A group called Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the bombings and said that the aim was to force the MNF out of Lebanon. According to Caspar Weinberger, then United States Secretary of Defense, there is no knowledge of who did the bombing. Some analysis highlights the role of Hezbollah and Iran, calling it "an Iranian operation from top to bottom". There is no consensus on whether Hezbollah existed at the time of bombing. The attacks eventually led to the withdrawal of the international peacekeeping force from Lebanon, where they had been stationed following the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) withdrawal in the aftermath of Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon.
Beirut: June 1982 to October 1983
Timeline
6 June 1982 – Israel undertook military action in Southern Lebanon: Operation "Peace for Galilee."
23 August 1982 – Bachir Gemayel was elected to be Lebanon's president.
25 August 1982 – A MNF of approximately 400 French, 800 Italian soldiers and 800 marines of the 32nd Marine Amphibious Unit (MAU) were deployed in Beirut as part of a peacekeeping force to oversee the evacuation of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) guerrillas.
10 September 1982 – The PLO retreats from Beirut under MNF protection. Subsequently, the 32nd MAU was ordered out of Beirut by the President of the United States.
14 September 1982 – Lebanon's President, Bachir Gemayel, was assassinated.
16 September to 18 September 1982 – The Sabra and Shatila massacre occurred.
19 September 1982 – The destroyer USS John Rodgers and nuclear cruiser USS Virginia operating off the coast of Beirut conduct a naval bombardment into the town of Suk al Gharb, in the hills overlooking Beirut, in support of the Lebanese Army, after it is nearly overrun by Syrian-backed Druze militiamen and Palestinian guerrillas. Over 300 rounds of 5" shells are fired to suppress the attack.
20 September 1982 – The Beirut residence of the U.S. ambassador is shelled; for a second day US naval ships again conduct counter fire operations.
21 September 1982 – Bachir Gemayel's brother, Amine Gemayel, was elected to be Lebanon's president.
29 September 1982 – The 32nd MAU was redeployed to Beirut (primarily at the BIA) rejoining 2,200 French and Italian MNF troops already in place.
30 October 1982 – The 32nd MAU was relieved by the 24th MAU.
15 February 1983 – The 32nd MAU, redesignated as the 22nd MAU, returned to Lebanon to relieve the 24th MAU.
18 April 1983 – The U.S. Embassy bombing in Beirut killed 63, of whom 17 were Americans.
17 May 1983 – The May 17 Agreement was signed.
30 May 1983 – The 24th MAU relieved the 22nd MAU.