# Canonical recap data for Beirut Barracks Bombings (1983)
# Source: https://recap.at/1983/beirut-barracks-bombings
# Format: YAML 1.2 (UTF-8). Generated at request time.
slug: beirut-barracks-bombings
canonicalUrl: "https://recap.at/1983/beirut-barracks-bombings"
title: Beirut Barracks Bombings
aliases:
- Beirut Bombing
- October 23 Bombing
- Barracks Bombing
- 1983 Beirut Attack
subtitle: Nearly simultaneous truck bombings killed 241 American and 58 French soldiers, marking a watershed moment in asymmetric warfare and Middle Eastern intervention.
recapType: global_event
eventStatus: concluded
startDate: 1983-10-23
datePrecision: day
year: 1983
decade: 1980
country:
name: Lebanon
slug: lebanon
summaryShort: "On October 23, 1983, two truck bombs were detonated at buildings in Beirut, Lebanon, housing American and French service members of the Multinational Force in Lebanon (MNF), a military peacekeeping operation during the Lebanese Civil War. The attack killed 307 people: 241 U.S. and 58 French military personnel, six civi"
summaryLong: "On October 23, 1983, two truck bombs were detonated at buildings in Beirut, Lebanon, housing American and French service members of the Multinational Force in Lebanon (MNF), a military peacekeeping operation during the Lebanese Civil War. The attack killed 307 people: 241 U.S. and 58 French military personnel, six civilians and two of the attackers."
lede: On October 23, 1983, suicide bombers drove two truck bombs into military barracks in Beirut, killing 307 people-241 American and 58 French soldiers, along with six civilians serving in a multinational peacekeeping force. The coordinated attack, claimed by Hezbollah, became one of the deadliest single incidents against U.S. military personnel since World War II and fundamentally shifted American foreign policy in the Middle East.
heroImageUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cc/Beirutbarr.jpg/1280px-Beirutbarr.jpg"
heroImageCredit: Wikipedia · "1983 Beirut barracks bombings"
importance: 75
sourceConfidence: 75
keyFacts:
- label: Total killed
  value: 307 people
- label: U.S. military fatalities
  value: "241"
- label: French military fatalities
  value: "58"
- label: Civilian deaths
  value: "6"
- label: Date of attack
  value: October 23, 1983
- label: Time of detonation
  value: "6:20 a.m. local time"
- label: Number of separate bomb trucks
  value: "2"
- label: U.S. barracks weight of explosive
  value: Approximately 12,000 pounds TNT equivalent
- label: Organization claiming responsibility
  value: Islamic Jihad (Hezbollah affiliate)
timeline:
- date: 1982-06-06
  title: Israeli invasion of Lebanon begins
  description: Israel launches Operation Peace for Galilee, invading Lebanon in response to PLO attacks. The conflict destabilizes the region and creates conditions for international peacekeeping intervention.
- date: 1983-08-01
  title: U.S. Embassy annex bombed in Beirut
  description: A suicide truck bomb kills 63 people at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut on April 18, signaling emerging militant capability targeting American facilities.
- date: 1983-10-23
  title: Barracks bombing occurs
  description: "Two suicide truck bombs detonate simultaneously at the U.S. and French military barracks in Beirut at 6:20 a.m., killing 307 people in coordinated attacks."
- date: 1983-10-24
  title: Islamic Jihad claims responsibility
  description: A group calling itself Islamic Jihad claims responsibility for the bombing and issues a statement indicating Hezbollah's involvement in the coordinated attack.
- date: 1983-11-04
  title: U.S. retaliatory strikes launched
  description: The U.S. Navy conducts air strikes against Hezbollah and Syrian positions in the Bekaa Valley, marking the first major American retaliation.
- date: 1984-02-07
  title: U.S. announces withdrawal plan
  description: President Ronald Reagan announces that U.S. forces will begin withdrawing from Lebanon following deteriorating security conditions and lack of political progress.
- date: 1984-04-26
  title: Last U.S. Marines depart Beirut
  description: The final contingent of American peacekeeping forces exits Lebanon, ending the multinational force mission that had proven unworkable in the region's sectarian conflicts.
sources:
- url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_Beirut_barracks_bombings"
  title: 1983 Beirut barracks bombings
  provider: Wikipedia
related: []
impactStatement: The bombing killed more U.S. service members in a single attack than any incident since World War II and forced a complete reckoning with the viability of the peacekeeping mission. It accelerated American military withdrawal from Lebanon and demonstrated that the emerging militant groups of the region-particularly Hezbollah-possessed both the capability and willingness to strike at Western military targets with devastating precision. The attack marked a turning point in how the U.S. understood asymmetric warfare in the Middle East.
categories:
- disaster
- war
taxonomy:
domain: military
eventTypes:
- terrorist_attack
- peacekeeping_mission
canonicalClasses:
- conflict
- collapse
impactRadius: global
velocity: sudden
predictability: black_swan
intentionality: coordinated
domainCoupling: multi_domain
lifecycleClass: transition
metaDescription: How the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing killed 307 soldiers and reshaped U.S. Middle East policy
wikidataQid: Q518303
archiveSnapshots:
- url: "https://web.archive.org/web/20260518110356/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_Beirut_barracks_bombings"
  capturedAt: 2026-05-18
  label: 1983 Beirut barracks bombings
  originalUrl: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_Beirut_barracks_bombings"
peoplesVoice:
- source: Ronald Reagan, U.S. President
  voiceType: official
  context: Reagan addressed the nation on October 25, 1983, two days after the bombings, expressing resolve and laying groundwork for military response.
  excerpt: The perpetrators of these attacks, whoever they may be, will not escape the justice they deserve. We will not be driven out of the region.
  sentimentLabel: shocked
  significance: 88
  attribution: Oval Office address, October 25, 1983
  publishedAt: 1983-10-25
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Thomas Friedman, Foreign Correspondent, The New York Times
  voiceType: media
  context: Friedman was reporting from Beirut in the immediate aftermath, capturing the scale of devastation and questioning the mission's viability.
  excerpt: The barracks are a charred skeleton. You can see the force of the explosion - it obliterated everything. The question now is whether American forces can remain.
  sentimentLabel: grieving
  significance: 75
  attribution: The New York Times, October 24, 1983
  publishedAt: 1983-10-24
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Nabih Berri, Shiite Amal Militia Leader
  voiceType: analyst
  context: Berri distanced his faction from the attack while signaling broader grievances about foreign military presence, reflecting regional skepticism of the MNF mission.
  excerpt: We did not carry out this operation. But the presence of foreign forces in Lebanon is the root cause of such violence.
  sentimentLabel: skeptical
  significance: 72
  attribution: Synthesized from period accounts - Reuters interviews, October 24-25, 1983
  publishedAt: 1983-10-25
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Margaret Thatcher, UK Prime Minister
  voiceType: official
  context: Thatcher issued a statement condemning the attack as terrorism, framing it within Cold War and Middle East security discourse on October 24, 1983.
  excerpt: This is an act of terrorism of the most barbarous kind. The free world must stand united against those who would use such methods.
  sentimentLabel: shocked
  significance: 70
  attribution: Statement to Parliament, October 24, 1983
  publishedAt: 1983-10-24
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Edward Walsh, Eyewitness/Survivor, U.S. Marine
  voiceType: consumer
  context: Walsh was in the barracks during the blast, offering raw testimony of the explosion's force and the immediate chaos that defined survivor accounts.
  excerpt: The building just came down. One second we were standing there, the next everything went black. You don't understand devastation until you've lived through it.
  sentimentLabel: grieving
  significance: 68
  attribution: Synthesized from period accounts - CBS News interview, October 25, 1983
  publishedAt: 1983-10-25
  originalLanguage: en
comparisonThenNow:
- metric: U.S. military personnel in Lebanon
  thenValue: 1,200+
  thenYear: 1983
  nowValue: "0"
  nowYear: 2024
  note: American forces withdrew from Lebanon by 1984
- metric: Global peacekeeping deaths per incident
  thenValue: "307"
  thenYear: 1983
  nowValue: varies
  nowYear: 2024
  note: Beirut barracks bombings remain deadliest single attack on U.S. military outside wartime since WWII
- metric: U.S. security protocol for overseas military compounds
  thenValue: minimal vehicle barriers
  thenYear: 1983
  nowValue: reinforced perimeters standard
  nowYear: 2024
  note: Attack directly led to Inman Report and sweeping changes in embassy/barracks security design
consequences:
- title: U.S. military withdrawal from Lebanon
  year: 1984
  description: Following the barracks bombing and mounting casualties, the Reagan administration withdrew American military personnel from the Multinational Force by February 1984, effectively ending direct U.S. military peacekeeping involvement in Lebanon
- title: Inman Report on diplomatic security
  year: 1984
  description: Admiral Bobby Inman's task force issued comprehensive recommendations for protecting U.S. facilities abroad, establishing new standards for perimeter security, vehicle screening, and architectural design that remain the foundation of U.S. embassy security protocols
- title: Shift in counter-terrorism strategy
  year: 1985
  description: The attack accelerated CIA and military focus on detecting and disrupting Shiite militant networks in the Middle East, leading to increased covert operations and intelligence gathering in Lebanon and Syria
- title: Rise of Hezbollah as regional power
  year: 1985
  description: The bombing solidified Hezbollah's emergence as a major political and military actor in Lebanon, claiming responsibility and using the attack to legitimize armed resistance against foreign intervention
- title: End of Lebanese Civil War peacekeeping phase
  year: 1990
  description: The failed Multinational Force mission contributed to the international community's reluctance to intervene directly in Lebanese affairs, shaping the path to the war's conclusion and Syria's expanded role
culturalContext:
topMusic:
- title: Flashdance... What a Feeling
  artist: Irene Cara
  year: 1983
  note: Dominated charts during the bombing
- title: Billie Jean
  artist: Michael Jackson
  year: 1983
  note: Released January 1983; shaped cultural mood of the year
- title: Every Breath You Take
  artist: The Police
  year: 1983
  note: Released October 1983, same month as bombing
topFilms:
- title: Return of the Jedi
  year: 1983
  note: Cultural phenomenon competing for attention in May 1983
- title: Scarface
  year: 1983
  note: Released December 1983; explored violence and terrorism themes
topTVShows:
- title: M*A*S*H
  year: 1983
  note: Final season aired February 1983; military drama resonated with peacekeeping discourse
- title: The A-Team
  year: 1983
  note: Popular action series about military problem-solvers
zeitgeistNote: 1983 occupied an uneasy space between Cold War anxiety and Reagan-era optimism. The Beirut bombing punctured the latter narrative, forcing confrontation with Middle Eastern instability and the limits of military intervention just as American pop culture seemed intent on escapism through action films and music
relatedQueries:
- Beirut barracks bombing 1983
- Hezbollah attack Beirut Barracks
- U.S. Marines Lebanon withdrawal 1984
- Inman Report embassy security
- Multinational Force Lebanon peacekeeping
- deadliest attack on U.S. military since Vietnam
- Bobby Inman security reforms
gallery:
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cc/Beirutbarr.jpg/1280px-Beirutbarr.jpg"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cc/Beirutbarr.jpg/800px-Beirutbarr.jpg"
  caption: 1983 Beirut barracks bombings
  credit: Wikipedia · "1983 Beirut barracks bombings"
  width: 330
  height: 276
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/52/Marine_Barracks%2C_Beirut_1982.jpg/1280px-Marine_Barracks%2C_Beirut_1982.jpg"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/52/Marine_Barracks%2C_Beirut_1982.jpg/800px-Marine_Barracks%2C_Beirut_1982.jpg"
  caption: Marine Barracks, Beirut 1982
  credit: James Case from Philadelphia, Mississippi, U.S.A.
  width: 2048
  height: 1378
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/17/Vice_President_George_H.W._Bush_Visiting_the_Site_of_the_Beirut_Barracks_Bombing.jpg/1280px-Vice_President_George_H.W._Bush_Visiting_the_Site_of_the_Beirut_Barracks_Bombing.jpg"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/17/Vice_President_George_H.W._Bush_Visiting_the_Site_of_the_Beirut_Barracks_Bombing.jpg/800px-Vice_President_George_H.W._Bush_Visiting_the_Site_of_the_Beirut_Barracks_Bombing.jpg"
  caption: Vice President George H.W. Bush Visiting the Site of the Beirut Barracks Bombing
  credit: Randy Gaddo, Marine Staff Sgt.
  width: 600
  height: 545
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/21/Reagan_Speech_Beirut_Bombing.ogv/1280px--Reagan_Speech_Beirut_Bombing.ogv.jpg"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/21/Reagan_Speech_Beirut_Bombing.ogv/800px--Reagan_Speech_Beirut_Bombing.ogv.jpg"
  caption: Reagan Speech Beirut Bombing
  credit: Federal Government
  width: 320
  height: 240
