Part of the Iran–Iraq War and the Lebanese Civil War
A smoke cloud rises from the rubble of the bombed barracks at Beirut International Airport (BIA).
Location
33°49′45″N35°29′41″E / 33.82917°N 35.49472°E / 33.82917; 35.49472 (USMCBarracksatBeirutAirport) United States Marine Corps barracks, Beirut Airport
33°52′10″N35°29′17″E / 33.86944°N 35.48806°E / 33.86944; 35.48806 (DrakkarBarracks) 'Drakkar' barracks of French 1st Parachute Chasseur Regiment and 9th Parachute Chasseur Regiment, Ramlet al Baida, Beirut
Date
October 23, 1983; 40 years ago (1983-10-23) 06:22 am
Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Islamic Amal (court finding)
Motive
United States and French support for Iraq
v
t
e
Iran–Iraq War
Pre-war incidents
1975 Algiers Agreement
Iranian Revolution
1979 Kurdish rebellion in Iran
1979 Khuzestan insurgency
Iranian Embassy siege
Iraqi invasion of Iran (1980)
Iraqi airstrike
Revenge
Kaman 99
1st Khorramshahr
Scorch Sword
Dezful
Sultan 10
Abadan
Morvarid
Stalemate (1981)
Nasr
H-3
Opera
Iranian offensives to free Iranian territory (1981–82)
Samen-ol-A'emeh
Tariq-ol-Qods
Fath-ol-Mobin
Beit-ol-Moqaddas (2nd Khorramshahr)
Iranian offensives in Iraq (1982–84)
Ramadan (1st Basra)
Moslem Ibn Aqil
Muharram ol-Harram
Before the Dawn
Dawn 1
Dawn 2
Dawn 3
Dawn 4
Dawn 5 (2nd Basra)
Kheibar (3rd Basra)
Kurdish rebellion (1983)
Dawn 6
Dawn 7
Marshes
Iranian offensives in Iraq (1985–87)
Badr (4th Basra)
Dawn 8 (1st al-Faw)
Dawn 9
Karbala 1 (Mehran)
Karbala 2
Karbala 3
Fath 1
Karbala 4 (5th Basra)
Karbala 5 (6th Basra)
Karbala 6
Karbala 7
Karbala 8 (7th Basra)
Karbala 9
Karbala 10
Nasr 4
Final stages (1988)
Beit-ol-Moqaddas 2
Anfal campaign
Beit-ol-Moqaddas 3
Dawn 10
Halabja massacre
Beit-ol-Moqaddas 4
Zafar 7
Tawakalna ala Allah (2nd al-Faw)
Forty Stars
Eternal Light
Mersad
Tanker War
June 5 1984 Skirmish
Earnest Will
Bridgeton incident
Prime Chance
Eager Glacier
Nimble Archer
Praying Mantis
International incidents
1981 Iraqi embassy bombing in Beirut
USS Stark incident
Iran Air Flight 655
v
t
e
Persian Gulf Wars
Iran–Iraq War (1980–1988)
Gulf War (1990–1991)
Invasion of Kuwait (1990)
Iraqi Kurdish/Shi'a uprisings (1991)
Iraq no-fly zones conflict (1991–2003)
Iraq air strikes (January 1993)
Iraq missile strikes (1993)
Iraq missile strikes (1996)
Iraq bombing (1998)
1999 Shia uprising in Iraq
Iraqi conflict (2003–present)
Iraq War (2003–2011)
Iraqi insurgency (2003–2006)
Iraqi civil war (2006–2008)
Iraqi insurgency (2008–2011)
Iraqi insurgency (2011–2013)
War in Iraq (2013–2017)
Islamic State insurgency in Iraq (2017–present)
Attacks on U.S. bases in Iraq, Syria, and Jordan
v
t
e
Lebanese Civil War
First phase: 1975–1977
Bus massacre
Black Thursday
Hotels
ASALA insurgency
Black Saturday
Karantina
Damour
1976 Syrian intervention
Tel al-Zaatar
Chekka
Aishiyeh
Second phase: 1977–1982
Chouf
St George's Church attack
Hundred Days' War
Litani
Kaukaba
Ehden
Qaa
Qnat
At Tiri
Safra
Zahleh
1981 Israeli bombing
Iraqi Embassy bombing
Third phase: 1982–1984
1982 Beirut bombing
1982 Lebanon War
1982 Iranian diplomats kidnapping
Assassination of Bachir Gemayel
Sabra and Shatila
U.S. Embassy bombing
Barracks bombings
Mountain War
Tripoli
February 6 Intifada
1984 Sohmor massacre
Fourth phase: 1984–1990
U.S. embassy annex bombing
War of the Camps
1985 Beirut bombings
LF coup
Assassination of Rashid Karami
War of Brothers
War of Elimination
War of Liberation
Dahr al-Wahsh massacre
Assassination of René Moawad
Sidon
Cantons and puppet states
East Beirut canton
People's Republic of Tyre
Northern Canton
Civil Administration of the Mountain
State of Free Lebanon
South Lebanon security belt
administration
On October 23, 1983, two truck bombs were detonated at 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.
Early that Sunday morning, 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.[1][2] Another 128 Americans were wounded in the blast. 13 later died of their injuries, and they are counted among the number who died.[3] 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.[4][1][5] The explosives used were later estimated to be equivalent to as much as 12,000 pounds (5,400 kg) of TNT.[6][7][8]
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.[9] 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.[10]
A group called Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the bombings and said that the aim was to force the MNF out of Lebanon.[11] According to Caspar Weinberger, then United States Secretary of Defense, there is no knowledge of who did the bombing.[12] Some analysis highlights the role of Hezbollah and Iran, calling it "an Iranian operation from top to bottom".[13] There is no consensus on whether Hezbollah existed at the time of bombing.[14] 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.
^ abGeraghty (2009), p. xv
^Phillips, James (October 23, 2009). "The 1983 Marine Barracks Bombing: Connecting the Dots". The Heritage Foundation. Retrieved October 2, 2023.
^Hammel (1985), p. 386.
^Hammel (1985), p. 394.
^"Part 8 – Casualty Handling". Report of the DoD Commission on Beirut International Airport Terrorist Act, October 23, 1983. Archived from the original on October 11, 2007. Retrieved September 30, 2007.
^Cite error: The named reference perleslaw.com was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Geraghty (2009), pp. 185–186
^"Report of the DoD Commission on Beirut International Airport Terrorist Attack, October 23, 1983" (PDF). December 20, 1983.
^Wright, Robin, Sacred Rage, Simon and Schuster, 2001, p. 72
^"On This Day: October 23". The New York Times. October 23, 1983. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 13, 2014.
^Stephens, Bret (October 22, 2012). "Stephens: Iran's Unrequited War". The Wall Street Journal.
^"target america". Frontline. WGBH. October 4, 2001.
^"now.mmedia.me 30 October 2014". Archived from the original on July 24, 2020. Retrieved November 1, 2014.
^"The Fog over the 1983 Beirut Attacks". FRONTLINE - Tehran Bureau.
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