thedrifter
07-20-06, 01:40 PM
Marines' History In Lebanon Dates To '58
Before U.S. Marines went ashore Thursday in Beirut to help evacuate American citizens, the Marines had been ordered into Lebanon three times, with their first deployment creating a bit of a comedy and the third generating a tragedy that left 241 Americans dead.
US Marines and US Navy personnel help bring evacuees on board an landing class from a beach in Beirut, Lebanon. Around 1200 people are to be taken by LCU to the USS Nashville, and transported to Cyprus, Thursday July 20, 2006. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
The Marines were first sent to the Mediterranean country in July 1958 when it was feared a simmering revolt could topple Lebanese President Camille Chamoun at a time of nervousness about the Middle East because a revolution had just put an end to the Iraqi monarchy.
But the Lebanese situation never boiled over. When the Marines came ashore on a beach near Beirut airport, they were greeted by sunbathers offering cold sodas _ and the U.S. operation has since been jokingly called the Coca-Cola War.
The Marines were again ordered into Beirut in August 1982 as part of a multinational force to ensure order as PLO chairman Yasser Arafat's guerrillas were evacuated from Lebanon after Israel invaded the country. The Marines left after about two weeks once the evacuation was completed.
Little more than a week later, they were ordered back after Christian militiamen allied with Israel massacred hundreds of Palestinians in the Sabra and Chatilla refugee camps in Beirut. The Marines, along with British, French and Italian troops, were expected to provide a modicum of order to help the fragile Lebanese government get on its feet.
But the U.S. force was soon seen as supporting the Christian side in Lebanon's civil war. Marines fought with Shiite Muslim militiamen in slums around the American base at Beirut airport, and U.S. Navy ships fired shells at mountain fortifications of Druse militiamen.
Early on Oct. 23, 1983, a suicide bomber drove an explosive-laden truck into a building where many of the U.S. troops were billeted, pancaking the poured concrete floors atop one another and killing 241 Americans. A near-simultaneous suicide attack killed 58 at the French multinational headquarters.
The attacks were blamed on allies of Hezbollah, the Shiite militia now battling Israel. The following February _ after the Lebanese army split along sectarian lines _ the Marines withdrew to U.S. Navy ships offshore and other multinational troops also left Lebanon.
Ellie
Before U.S. Marines went ashore Thursday in Beirut to help evacuate American citizens, the Marines had been ordered into Lebanon three times, with their first deployment creating a bit of a comedy and the third generating a tragedy that left 241 Americans dead.
US Marines and US Navy personnel help bring evacuees on board an landing class from a beach in Beirut, Lebanon. Around 1200 people are to be taken by LCU to the USS Nashville, and transported to Cyprus, Thursday July 20, 2006. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
The Marines were first sent to the Mediterranean country in July 1958 when it was feared a simmering revolt could topple Lebanese President Camille Chamoun at a time of nervousness about the Middle East because a revolution had just put an end to the Iraqi monarchy.
But the Lebanese situation never boiled over. When the Marines came ashore on a beach near Beirut airport, they were greeted by sunbathers offering cold sodas _ and the U.S. operation has since been jokingly called the Coca-Cola War.
The Marines were again ordered into Beirut in August 1982 as part of a multinational force to ensure order as PLO chairman Yasser Arafat's guerrillas were evacuated from Lebanon after Israel invaded the country. The Marines left after about two weeks once the evacuation was completed.
Little more than a week later, they were ordered back after Christian militiamen allied with Israel massacred hundreds of Palestinians in the Sabra and Chatilla refugee camps in Beirut. The Marines, along with British, French and Italian troops, were expected to provide a modicum of order to help the fragile Lebanese government get on its feet.
But the U.S. force was soon seen as supporting the Christian side in Lebanon's civil war. Marines fought with Shiite Muslim militiamen in slums around the American base at Beirut airport, and U.S. Navy ships fired shells at mountain fortifications of Druse militiamen.
Early on Oct. 23, 1983, a suicide bomber drove an explosive-laden truck into a building where many of the U.S. troops were billeted, pancaking the poured concrete floors atop one another and killing 241 Americans. A near-simultaneous suicide attack killed 58 at the French multinational headquarters.
The attacks were blamed on allies of Hezbollah, the Shiite militia now battling Israel. The following February _ after the Lebanese army split along sectarian lines _ the Marines withdrew to U.S. Navy ships offshore and other multinational troops also left Lebanon.
Ellie