Part 2 of this series dealt with tit-for-tat violence between the Israelis and the Palestinians and only touched on the roles played by the United States and Iran in this conflict in the early 80s.
Part 3 of this series dissects the child of this bleak relationship, the Lebanese Civil War. The period covered here is 1982-83, when Iran’s true antipathy toward an unsuspecting United States matures.
America, however, is still somewhat blinded to the new Iran. Perhaps it just couldn’t fathom that Iran, once such a good and faithful friend, could suddenly turn around and bite the hand that fed it.
Taking a look at Lebanon during this period is worthwhile because it could be where the world is heading again in 2023-24. History in the Middle East has a nasty habit of repeating.
— David
September 1982: The US Marines return to Beirut in response to the horrific massacre of Palestinian refugees at the Sabra and Shatila camps in West Beirut, carried out by Christian militias in reprisal for the assassination of their Christian president-elect, Bashir Gemayel.
The PLO is no longer in Lebanon, and while an unfamiliar calm has descended on Beiruit, beneath the surface, the lava bubbles.
These American forces are part of the hastily reformed United Nations’ Multinational Force (MNF) and are joined by troops from France and Italy.
The Marines’ designated area of operations is the Beirut International Airport (BIA). With their backs to the sea and their ships riding close by offshore, this is the Marines’ preferred location for its deployment.
The French are given the Port of Beirut as their area of operations, and the Italians take West Beirut in the vicinity of the Sabra & Shatila camps. East Beirut is in the hands of the (US-and-Israeli-aligned Phalange government) Lebanese Army and Christian militias.
The Marines’ hazy mission now is to “establish a presence”. Though it’s not spelled out in as many words, Washington trusts that simply having boots on the ground will provide a stabilizing influence enabling the Lebanese government to reassert a degree of control and security and bring that factional violence to heel.
For their command post, the Marines select a four-story administration building at the airport that had been used previously as an HQ for both the Syrian and Israeli armies during their periods of occupation. The building is robust, having shrugged off a couple of direct hits from past air strikes. Additionally, it has a flat roof with a 360-degree view of the surrounding area, making the building an ideal observation post.
These Marines are trained combat fighters, a Battalion Landing Team or BLT comprising three rifle companies of 180 men each, a 200-man weapons company incorporating 8 platoons each servicing an 81mm mortar, and twelve teams equipped with wire-guided Dragon anti-tank rockets; a platoon of amphibious assault vehicles; a platoon of M60 Patton main battle tanks; a platoon of jeep-mounted TOW missiles; a platoon of combat engineers; six 155mm howitzers, plus amphibious reconnaissance. There is also a service company of 200 that includes sharpshooters (snipers) and others.
When the Marines arrive to take up their positions, they are restricted to the airport’s runways as the surrounding area is littered with thousands of unexploded bombs. Clearing their new home area and making it safe is the Marines’ first task. But it’s dangerous work, and on the second day of the mine clearing, an exploding bomblet kills a member of a disposal team.
A US serviceman being killed, albeit accidentally, but literally within 24 hours of deployment, confirms the Marines are in a war zone and could possibly get sucked into the long-running conflict, exactly what the (War Powers) Act sidestepped by Reagan was designed to prevent following the disasters of Vietnam
The US Commander in Chief, President Ronald Reagan, has sent the Marines to Lebanon without Congressional approval, sidestepping the 1973 War Powers Act that limits a president’s power to commit US forces to a war zone without seeking that approval. A US serviceman being killed, albeit accidentally, but literally within 24 hours of deployment, confirms the Marines are in a war zone and could possibly get sucked into the long-running conflict, exactly what the act was designed to prevent following the disasters of Vietnam. Compliance with the act would require Reagan to officially notify Congress within 48 hours of a deployment to a hostile environment, starting a 60-day clock ticking that would end with either the Marines’ withdrawal or war declared (with Congressional approval). But this is a technicality that sticks in the craw of a president who wants to make his mark, and Reagan ignores it.
Fighting in Beirut in 1982 are at least twenty-two armed militia factions, armies, and proxy forces. Each of these represents the interests of Palestinians, Maronite Christians, Shia and Sunni Muslims, Communists, the nations of Syria, Iran, Libya, and others. All are fighting to gain outsized power and influence within a new government when it forms. But by far, the largest and most powerful army standing stride Lebanon at this time is the Israeli Defense Force (IDF), which is still operating on Lebanese soil despite the removal of Arafat and the PLO (see Part 2 of this series).
By 1982, the civil war is seven years old, and Beirut is daily rocketed, shelled, mortared, and bombed. Running battles in the streets are fought with handguns, assault rifles, heavy and light machine guns, and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs). There are car bombings, assassinations, and kidnappings, most of it is concentrated in West Beirut, where the city’s Shia Muslim population resides.
Amidst all this, anchored on the ground at the airport, the Marines feel like sitting ducks, the base presenting a prize target should any of these factions harbor anti-American sentiments.
The Marines’ commanding officer goes up the chain of command, requesting permission for his men to dig in, but the request is denied. The chain of command, controlled by the White House and the State Department, is reluctant to accept that the Marines are in a war zone, connected to the president’s aversion to enact the provisions of the War Powers Act, and desire any notion to the contrary quashed.
With so much metal flying about, much of it transiting the airport, many of the Marines choose to bunk down in the administration building. It doesn’t have anything in the way of amenities, but at least it has solid reinforced concrete walls.
In these first days of the Marines’ redeployment to Beirut, and despite the daily carnage, with the PLO gone, there is some sense of the city being reborn. Reconstruction and rebuilding in some parts of the city are underway, the restaurants are heaving, and bathers have returned to the beaches (on the limited stretches of sand cleared of mines).
Marine patrols commence immediately in Hooterville, the name the Marines have given the Shia-dominated West Beirut suburb of Hay-es-Salaam, which the Beirut International Airport abuts. Patrols also begin in the Christian quarter to promote impartiality.
In these first days, the Americans are met with smiles and waves by the general population. Cakes and other treats are often gifted by grateful citizens, as the presence of the Marines is believed to provide a measure of much-hoped-for peace and security.
The Marines observe that Christian East Beirut is virtually untouched by the war that has pulverized the rest of the city. They also observe that the powerful Israeli Defense Force is likely to answer a single sniper’s bullet with a totally disproportionate and lengthy fusillade to the general area from a combined tank, heavy machine gun, and infantry fire.
This initial unit of Marines rotates out, having been incountry barely a month. A new Battalion Landing Team arrives and takes up station at the airport, its mission augmented to aid the Lebanese Armed Forces in enforcing security.
At odds with this mission are the Rules of Engagement (RoE) drilled into the Americans that severely limit their ability to defend themselves. They are “Peacekeepers,” but this is a role that’s totally at odds with the Marines’ own view of themselves as the head kickers of the United States military.
As the days roll into weeks, the battles between the multitude of competing factions heat up. Beirut slides back into ultraviolence, and the Marines’ ability to protect themselves, let alone prove security for civilians, begins to evaporate.
A Russian grenade is dropped from a window into the middle of a Marines’ foot patrol. The grenade is defective, and the blast limited, but five Marines are lightly wounded, mostly in the legs. A local news agency receives a call from little-known Iranian-backed militia Islamic Jihad (Islamic Holy War) claiming responsibility and warning Americans to leave Lebanon. Of course, the warning is ignored.
Lebanese internal security police and the Lebanese Army round up suspects, and several are tortured to extract confessions. One suspect is brought to trial and sentenced to death.
President Reagan responds to the attack, which has gone out on the wire, publicly stating the US commitment to Lebanon has “no reverse gear”. Within 48 hours, the President will have that commitment sorely tested.
18 April, 1983. 1300hrs. A pickup truck carrying around 2000 pounds of explosives drives into the United States Embassy compound located on a fashionable downtown West Beirut square overlooking the beach and detonates. The force of the blast collapses the front of the building’s first seven stories, killing sixty-eight, including the CIA’s entire Near East Bureau
18 April, 1983. 1300hrs. A pickup truck carrying around 2000 pounds of explosives drives into the United States Embassy compound located on a fashionable downtown West Beirut square overlooking the beach and detonates. The force of the blast collapses the front of the building’s first seven stories, killing sixty-eight, including the CIA’s entire Near East Bureau. Also killed are station chief Kenneth Haas along with visiting top Middle East analyst and Near East Director Robert Clayton Ames. US Ambassador Robert Dillon, the intended target of the bombing, in his office on the 8th story, survives the blast, but everything beneath it is destroyed.
This is America’s first taste of suicide bombing.
Following the explosion, as with the recent hand grenade incident, a local Arabic-language newspaper receives a call. Again, Islamic Jihad claims responsibility and warns the US to leave. Again the warning is ignored.
The US publicly blames a pro-Iranian Shia Amal group, mistakenly believing Islamic Jihad to be the group’s military arm. Iran responds to the accusation, denying involvement.
Following an investigation, American intelligence assesses that the bombing of the embassy is likely the prelude to a “more spectacular attack.” The investigators are also deeply critical of the RoE hamstringing the Marines. Neither assessment is addressed. Indeed, the RoE are added to and made even more restrictive. The men are forbidden to even chamber a round in their rifles unless instructed to do so by a commanding officer, which all but disarms them.
Ayatollah Khomeini sees Lebanon as fertile ground for another Islamic revolution and personally dispatches 1,500 Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps fighters to Lebanon
It is only with hindsight, and well after the US Embassy bombing, that US intelligence admits to the danger posed by a new militia operating in Beirut called Hezbollah (Party of God), the real organizing force behind Islamic Jihad. And despite Iran’s assurances to the contrary, Ayatollah Khomeini sees Lebanon as fertile ground for another Islamic revolution and personally dispatches 1,500 Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps fighters to Lebanon.
Joining the Iranians in this new militia is the Lebanese Shia Amal warlord Imad Mughniyeh, known more commonly among Lebanese by his nom de guerre, Al-Hajj Radwan, considered a hero by many Lebanese for resisting foreign occupation. He is known to despise Americans and is very good at making his feelings known.
28 August, 1983. It’s Sunday, the day Beirut loves to fight. The simmering factional hostilities in and around Beirut finally boil over when Israelis suddenly and without warning begin a limited withdrawal of forces, turning checkpoints in East Beirut and the Chouf (the hills to the south of the city) over to the Lebanese army forces.
This day is a turning point for the Marines. They are clearly now targets when joggers on the Beirut International Airport perimeter road are shot at.
Marine posts overlooking Hooterville begin taking concerted and direct small-arms and sniper fire. While there are no casualties and the Marines initially do not return fire, the restraint placed on the Marines ends when their commanding officer gives approval to shoot back, provided that clear targets present themselves. But the Shia fighters are wily and only fire through gaps in the windows and walls of buildings overlooking the Marines’ combat posts, and no targets can be clearly identified.
One Marine post is opposite a well-known rendezvous for Amal Shia fighters called Café Daniel, 400 meters across a mint field at the northeastern end of the airport. Not far from the café is a red-and-white-striped concrete structure the Marines refer to as “the Armory” after its chief apparent function. Controlling Café Daniel and the Armoury is warlord Imad Mughniyeh
One Marine post is opposite a well-known rendezvous for Amal Shia fighters called Café Daniel, 400 meters across a mint field at the northeastern end of the airport. Not far from the café is a red-and-white-striped concrete structure the Marines refer to as “the Armory” after its chief apparent function. Controlling Café Daniel and the Armoury is warlord named “Castro” by the Marines for his thick beard and likeness to the Cuban dictator. Unknown to the Marines, this Castro is the terrorist Imad Mughniyeh, aka Al-Hajj Radwan, the strategist instrumental in the bombing of the US Embassy and the chief of staff of the newly formed Iran-supported and financed Hezbollah, the parent group to Islamic Jihad.
Militiamen carrying their AKs, RPGs, and bandoliers of ammo often walk in plain sight of the Marines to the Café and Armory, having learned that the Americans won’t shoot at them unless they are directly targeting the Americans with their weapons, often pointing their fingers and shouting “BANG-BANG” and laughing
Lebanese Militiamen carrying their AKs, RPGs, and bandoliers of ammo often walk in plain sight of the Marines to the Café and Armory, having learned that the Americans won’t shoot at them unless they are directly targeting the Americans with their weapons, often pointing their fingers and shouting “BANG-BANG” and laughing. The militiamen then saunter along to their various bunkers and buildings, fire on the Marines until they run out of ammo, and then walk back to the café again in plain sight, their weapons slung over their shoulders. The Marines’ restrictive RoE prevent them from doing anything about it.
On August 29th, Shia fighters turn up the volume a notch when they begin “walking” 82mm mortar rounds (with a killing range of around thirty-five meters) across the airport towards the Marine post. The fourth round strikes the platoon’s command tent and detonates, killing one Marine instantly, mortally wounding another, and lightly wounding five more.
Small arms fire directed at the Marines from Hooterville continues in waves throughout the morning. This becomes more concerted when two Marines identify shooters and fire back. The heated response from the Shia positions takes the brakes off the Marines, and they go to work, the RoE finally permitting them to take out the targets they’ve been unable, till now, to fire on.
The 155s are loaded, fired, and the target is duly destroyed. And for once, at the end of this day, the fighters in Hooterville do not stroll to Café Daniel making gestures at the Americans
Militia rockets and mortar shells rain down on the airport. Three men are wounded when a mortar strikes a command post. The Marine’s commanding officer responds with restraint, clearing a 155mm artillery battery to fire 6 illumination rounds at the source of the incoming fire. These rounds burst precisely as intended over the target, around 300 meters away, and float gently back to earth, but the militia shelling and rocketing of the airport continues. In response, the battery is cleared to fire another salvo of six rounds. But this time, it’s HE – high explosive. The 155s are loaded, fired, and the target is duly destroyed. And for once, at the end of this day, the fighters in Hooterville do not stroll to Café Daniel making gestures at the Americans.
A Whitehouse spokesman delivers the news of the deaths of the two Marines in a press conference. The explanation is given that the Marines were unfortunately caught in the crossfire between opposing forces. But the truth that the Marines are fighting and dying in a war they have been sucked into is withheld from the American public.
September 4th. The Israelis begin a complete withdrawal from Lebanon, leaving a vacuum the militias fighting in and around Beirut are eager to fill. Two more Marines are killed and two wounded by rockets fired at the airport by either the Shia, the Druze, the Syrians, or any one of a number of militias that have obtained Russian weapons — the identity of the perpetrators is not confirmed.
Whether the Americans are being targeted with a purpose, and what that purpose may be – to get them to stay, to get them to go, or to draw them and America deeper into the mire, or simply to inflict hurt and despair on a Western power against whom they have a deep enmity, or for some other reason altogether — that, too, is unknown. But that is the Lebanese Civil War.
September 19th. Any vestige of American neutrality dissolves when US warships Bowen, John Rogers, and Virginia train their guns on Muslim positions in the Chouf and open fire, pumping a total of 338 rounds into the mountainside. Overhead, F-14 Tomcat fighters, launched from the carrier USS Eisenhower, monitor the gunfire while squadrons of fully loaded fighter-bombers orbit nearby over the Mediterranean to further dampen any thoughts of Druse retaliation. An unknown number of Muslim fighters are killed in the action, but the display of American military power gives hawks in the US Administration a much-desired demonstration to the Syrians and their backers in Moscow.
September 23rd. An uneasy calm settles on Beirut when parties in the conflict agree to a ceasefire. An exception is Mughniyeh and his militiamen. They pepper the Marine combat post opposite with sniper fire and the occasional grenade.
The Lebanese warlord then raises the stakes, introducing Syrian army fighters wearing Russian battle dress uniforms and also numbers of men wearing white headbands with red Arabic lettering. These are Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) fighters.
The Iranians – they are something these Marines haven’t seen before. Adding to the Americans’ disquiet, the women and children who live in the area — whole families — are being evacuated by the busload while young men of fighting age appear to be returning to the area. Something big is coming…
Mughniyeh commences a major confrontation, pouring concerted sniper and machine gun fire pours into the Marines’ positions, leading to more Marine KIAs and wounded. The Americans respond, all restraints lifted, opening up with M-60 machine guns, M-203 grenades, and sniper fire on anyone carrying a weapon. The sharpshooters have a field day. Their main target is Mughniyeh, but he studiously avoids presenting himself to the Marines’ crosshairs and is never seen carrying a firearm, which, by the RoE, makes him a non-combatant.
The Americans grumble as Mughniyeh’s men evacuate the Café Daniel-Armoury area, remove their dead, load up the remaining ammunition into vehicles, and live to fight another day
The Shia fighters request a ceasefire, which the Marines are reluctantly obliged to accept. The Americans grumble as Mughniyeh’s men evacuate the Café Daniel-Armoury area, remove their dead, load up the remaining ammunition into vehicles, and live to fight another day.
And that day comes soon enough when Mughniyeh and his fighters, including the uniformed Iranian cohort, ignore the so-called ceasefire decamp to areas overlooking the Lebanese University, a Marines’ observation post, and launch an attack with unprecedented violence
Countless RPG rounds, rifle and machine gun rounds pound the buildings. The Marines tear back at this assault with .50 caliber heavy machine guns, M-203 grenades, and sniper fire after mortar teams fire illumination rounds to light up the area. The firefight rages for six hours in the ghostly light, ending around midnight. More Marines lie dead and wounded, along with uncounted numbers of Lebanese and Iranian fighters who are killed and wounded by the American response.
The Joint Chiefs, the CIA, and the Pentagon’s Intelligence Support Activity team all believe a major terrorist attack is imminent
Following the firefight, the UN National Security Council meets to discuss a recommendation from Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, acting on behalf of America's most senior military officers, that the United Nations Multinational Force must be immediately withdrawn from Beirut. And there’s another reason to pull out — the Joint Chiefs, the CIA, and the Pentagon’s Intelligence Support Activity team all believe a major terrorist attack is imminent following the US Naval bombardments of the Chouf.
But then, at a closed-door meeting, Weinberger is convinced to withdraw his recommendation, allowing President Reagan to avoid the embarrassment of having to make a public decision on a withdrawal one way or the other.
Meanwhile, attempts by the Marines’ commanding officers to bolster security for the men is slapped down by the civilian chain of command. Any suggestion, indication, or demonstration that the Marines might be involved in the fighting is dismissed as soon as it is raised with higher authorities. Politicians and public servants who never set foot in Beirut and know nothing of the realities on the ground for the men thwart any and all attempts by the Marine commanders in Beirut to adequately respond to the threats and attacks.
October. Security on Beirut streets is now so dire that the Marines’ commanding officer removes his eagles (insignia rank of a full US Marines colonel) and rides shotgun whenever traveling in a jeep. It’s a wise precaution. On October 19, the colonel has a close call when a car bomb detonates within moments of his passing. It’s the first car bomb specifically deployed against the Marines.
Imad Mughniyeh, aka Castro, aka Al-Hajj Radwan, is the attack’s prime suspect. The bomb was built by the Ayatollah’s IRGC, Mughniyeh’s new partner. It’s merely a prelude to the main event.
Two events underpin the source of American hatred towards post-Shah Iran. The first is the “Iran Hostage Crisis” that flaunted American impotency. The second event will be dealt with in Part 4 coming next week. Stay tuned.
— David
Absolutely brilliant. So well researched and written with balance. I learnt so much as usual.
Thanks David.