The deadliest single-day loss for the U.S. Marine Corps since Iwo Jima, the attack drove the multinational peacekeeping force out of Lebanon.
Key Facts
- Total killed
- 307 people
- U.S. military personnel killed
- 241 personnel
- French military personnel killed
- 58 personnel
- Explosive yield (est.)
- 12,000 lbs TNT equivalent lbs
- Americans wounded
- 128 personnel
- Date of attack
- October 23, 1983
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
The Multinational Force in Lebanon was deployed as a peacekeeping operation during the Lebanese Civil War, following the PLO's withdrawal after Israel's 1982 invasion. Islamic Jihad, with alleged ties to Hezbollah and Iran, sought to expel Western forces from the country and targeted the American and French contingents of the MNF.
On October 23, 1983, two suicide bombers drove truck bombs into buildings housing U.S. and French service members in Beirut. The first blast destroyed the Marine barracks at BLT 1/8, killing 241 Americans; minutes later a second bomb struck the French Drakkar building, killing 58 French paratroopers. Combined, 307 people were killed in the coordinated attack.
The bombings precipitated the withdrawal of all Multinational Force contingents from Lebanon, effectively ending the Western peacekeeping mission. The attack remained the deadliest single-day loss for the U.S. Marine Corps since World War II and reshaped U.S. policy on military deployments in conflict zones for years afterward.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
2 belligerents
Side B
1 belligerent