Lest We Forget-April 1983 U.S. Embassy bombing

[Phantom Blooper]

The April 18, 1983, suicide bombing of the United States Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon was the deadliest attack on a US displomatic mission to that time, and is seen by some as marking the beginning of anti-US attacks by Islamic groups.

The attack was made by a delivery van driven by a suicide bomber, carrying about 400 pounds of explosives drove up to the Embassy. It parked under the portico at the very front of the building, where it exploded. The front section of the embassy collapsed, killing 63 people. Seventeen of these were Americans, and eight of them worked for the Central Intelligence Agency. More than a hundred others were wounded.

The attack was motivated by the American intervention in the Lebanese Civil War. In the aftermath of the massacre of Palestinians at the Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps by Lebanese Christian militiamen backed by nearby Isareli army units, American troops had landed to try and restore order and central government authority to the war ravaged country. Many groups within Lebanon were opposed to the American presence but the militant group Hezbollah, under the code name "Islamic Jihad", is believed to have been responsible for the attacks.


RIP "NEVER FORGET" Semper Fidelis Chuck Hall

[GySgtRet]

May they all RIP

[Phantom Blooper]

18 April 1983: One Marine Security Guard was killed and seven were wounded when a large car bomb exploded just outside the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon. Lance Corporal Robert McMaugh was standing guard at Post 1, just inside the front entrance when the bomb exploded outside the door. The explosion killed 61 people including 17 Americans. LCpl McMaugh was buried at Arlington National Cemetery on 26 April.


Semper Fidelis "Never Forget" Chuck Hall

[Steve0351]