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The Multinational Force in Lebanon was a peacekeeping force of 850 American US Marine Corps troops, 860 French soldiers, and 575 Italian Bersaglieri troops that was sent to Lebanon on 21 August 1982 during the Lebanese Civil War to prevent fighting between the withdrawing Syrian Arab Army, the Israeli Defense Force, and the various militias. It left Lebanon on 31 March 1984 after the bloody 1983 United States embassy bombing and the 1983 Beirut barracks bombings.
History[]
US troops on the Beirut coastal road in 1983
US troops outside the Durrafourd Building in April 1983
In August 1982, United States ambassador to Lebanon Philip Habib made an agreement with Syria and Israel in which United Nations peacekeepers from the United States, Italy, and France were sent to Beirut to ensure that there was no fighting as Syrian Arab Army and Israeli Defense Force troops withdrew from the country. 850 Americans, 860 French, and 575 Italian troops arrived in Beirut on 21 August 1982, but on 14 September (after the assassination of President Bashir Gemayel), 1,200 more troops were sent to Beirut. In February 1983, the United Kingdom sent the British 1st Dragoon Guards armored cars to join the multinational force.
The multinational force on the ground was supported by the air force and the navy, with USS Bowen, USS Pharris, USS Virginia, USS John Rodgers, and USS Arthur W. Radford firing on Druze and Shi'ite militia positions after US troops at the Beirut airport were shelled by them. On 4 December 1982, USAF planes began their first military operation on Lebanon by bombing Syrian positions after Syrian anti-aircraft fire hit several US planes, and on 23 October 1983 Hezbollah bombed the US Marine Corps barracks in Beirut, killing 241 US troops and 58 French troops. This was the largest single-day loss of life in US history since the beginning of the Tet Offensive, while this was also France's largest loss since the Algerian War. The French Air Force bombed the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) barracks in Baalbek in the Bekaa Valley in retaliation, as the IRGC were allegedly involved in several terrorist attacks against the Americans and the peacekeepers.
US Marines in Lebanon, 1983
On 7 February 1984, President Ronald Reagan ordered the 1,700 US troops to withdraw from Lebanon two days after the Prime Minister of Lebanon resigned. However, on 8 February, USS New Jersey bombarded Syrian Army and Druze militia positions in the Bekaa Valley, firing 288 16-inch projectiles. 30 rounds hit the Syrian headquarters, killing their leading general in Lebanon and many of his senior officers. On 20 February, the Italians withdrew from Lebanon, and on 31 March, the last troops - the French - withdrew from Lebanon. 265 US troops, 89 French troops, and 2 Italian troops were killed in the Lebanese Civil War, while 159 US troops were wounded.