23/10/2026
Early Sunday morning on October 23, 1983, a su***de bomber detonated a truck bomb at the building serving as a barracks for 1st Battalion 8th Marines (Battalion Landing Team – BLT 1/8) of the 2nd Marine Division, killing 220 Marines, 18 sailors and 3 soldiers, making this incident the deadliest single-day death toll for the United States Marine Corps since the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II. Another 128 Americans were wounded in the blast; 13 later died of their injuries, and they are counted among the number who died. The explosives used were later estimated to be equivalent to as much as 21,000 pounds of TNT.
A group called Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the bombings and said that the aim was to drive the multinational forces out of Lebanon. Some analysis highlight the role of Hezbollah and Iran, calling it "an Iranian operation from top to bottom". There is no consensus on whether Hezbollah existed at the time of bombing.
The attack eventually led to the withdrawal of the international peacekeeping force from Lebanon, where they had been stationed following the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) withdrawal in the aftermath of Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon.
