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This was once the U.S. barracks of the multinational force at Lebanon’s Beirut International Airport.
On the 23rd of October, 1983, it was destroyed by 5,400 kilograms of TNT packed into a yellow Mercedes Benz truck.
The explosion was described as the largest non–nuclear blast ever deliberately detonated. The truck had made it to the barracks by replacing a hi-jacked water delivery vehicle. Rules of engagement men that centuries didn’t have time to load their weapons before the truck had ran over a wide barricade and entered the lobby of the building where the driver detonated his cargo. The blast lifted the four-storey building into the air for the entire structure collapsed crashing those inside and sending a shockwave in five or in all directions. 241 American service men were killed, the majority of them are marines. As the attacked took placed at 06:22 in the morning, most of the victims were still sleeping—20 seconds later, another truck blew up the French headquarters in an identical fashion, killing 58 paratroopers along the several Lebanese workers and their children.
The Americans and French were stationed in Beirut as part of the International peacekeeping force during the Lebanese civil war of 1975 to 1990. Rescue as it’s continued for days haunted by snipe of fire. Survivors were at the RF hospital in Cyprus to U.S. and German Hospitals in West Germany.
On hearing of the attack, US President Ronald Reagan labeled it as a despicable act and voiced his commitment to US forces remaining in Lebanon. French President François Mitterrand declared the same intention while launching an air strike in the Beck Valley against the Iranian revolution regard in retaliation for the bombing.
The Americans planned their military response, but instead the marines were moved offshore and only four months later, President Reagan in an about turn ordered their withdrawal from Lebanon. By April, the rest of the multinational force had followed suite.
It was widely believed that Hezbollah was the organization behind the bombings and several Shia militant groups including the free Islamic revolutionary movement claimed responsibility. Some in the U.S. government though remained unsure. As recently as 2001, Caspar Weinberger, who is the US of Defense at the time of the bombing said, “But we still don’t have the actual knowledge of who did the bombing of the marine barracks at the Beirut airport and we certainly didn’t then.”
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