On October 23, 1983, a truck bomb exploded at a U.S. Marine Corps barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. The bombing killed 241 American service members who were part of a multinational peacekeeping force. A separate attack the same day struck French paratroopers. Investigators blamed a militant group linked to Hezbollah and supported by Iran. The attack led to debate in the United States about military involvement in Lebanon’s civil conflict. U.S. forces were withdrawn from Beirut in the months that followed, and the bombing influenced later decisions about overseas deployments.
