Combat· Lebanon Multinational Force (Beirut Bombing)
US Embassy Bombing 18 April 1983
The bombing of the American Embassy in Beirut was the first of the catastrophic suicide attacks that struck the United States presence in Lebanon.
A vehicle laden with explosives was driven into the embassy building on the Beirut waterfront and detonated, collapsing a section of the structure and killing scores of people, including American officials, embassy staff, Lebanese employees, and visitors, among them members of the U.S. intelligence community. The attack was a devastating blow to American operations in Lebanon and an ominous warning of a new and lethal form of warfare being turned against the Western presence in Beirut. For the Marines of the Multinational Force, who provided security elements connected to the diplomatic mission, the bombing signaled that the factions arrayed around them were prepared to strike at Americans directly and without warning, a foreshadowing of the far deadlier attack on the Marine headquarters six months later.
Record no. 655