October 23, 2024
They Came In Peace
The words inscribed on the Beirut Memorial to honor the U.S. service members who lost their lives as a result of the October 23, 1983 bombings in Lebanon.
What Happened: On this day 41 years ago, “Terrorists drove two trucks filled with explosives into buildings housing a multinational peacekeeping force, killing 241 U.S. service members and 58 French military and civilian personnel in Beirut” (Department of Defense). One of the buildings housed the headquarters of the 1st Battalion, 8th Marines, which sustained the majority of the deaths that day in the explosion and subsequent building collapse.
Why It Matters: Upon request of the Lebanese government, U.S. and French troops deployed to the region in 1982 to serve as a peacekeeping force during the Lebanese Civil War. Amid growing tensions in the region, terror group Hezbollah was formed that same year; the organization was later found to be behind the October 23, 1983 attack, and continued to carry out significant acts of terror — including the 1984 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut and the 1985 hijacking of TWA flight 847.
In February 1984, as Lebanon became increasingly unstable, President Ronald Reagan made the controversial decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Lebanon.
The United States designated Hezbollah as a foreign terrorist organization in 1997.
In Recent News: The leader of Hezbollah’s Operations Unit, Ibrahim Aqil, was killed in an Israeli airstrike last month. The U.S. State Department called him a “principal member” of the terrorist group’s Islamic Jihad Organization cell, responsible for the violent attacks in the 1980s.
Image Credit: “The scene in the aftermath of the bombing of the U.S. Marines barracks in Beirut on Oct. 23, 1983.” (Washington Post via Associated Press)
by Stephanie Wagner, based in Florida
