Beirut Bombing of Barracks 23 October 1983
In 1982, President Ronald Regan sent Marines to Beirut, Lebanon on a peacekeeping mission as part of a multi-national force. At 6:22 am on 23 October 1983, a truck carrying 2,000 pounds of explosives drove into the Marine Compound in Beirut and crashed into the barracks of the 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Battalion Landing Team. Three hundred Marines and military service members had been living in the four-story building at the airport in Beirut; 1,800 Marines were stationed at Beirut at the time. Two hundred and twenty Marines and 21 U.S. service personnel were killed by the truck bomb.
This bombing was the most deadly attack against U.S. Marines since the World War II battle on Iwo Jima in February 1945. The bombing in Beirut was traced to Hezbollah, a militant and political group that originated in Lebanon in 1982. Iranian and Syrian involvement was also suspected. In February 1984 United States troops withdrew from Lebanon.