What were the 1983 Beirut barracks bombings?

More than 300 people died in the suicide attacks

The aftermath of the bomb attack on the US Marine Corps barracks in Beirut on October 23, 1983. Getty

The deadly 1983 Beirut barracks bombings came in the middle of the 15-year civil war in Lebanon and targeted American and French military personnel who were in the country as part of a four-nation peacekeeping force.

Two suicide bombers struck positions where the respective missions were housed on Sunday morning, October 23.

The first lorry bomb hit the US Marine Corps barracks, killing 241 service members ― the deadliest incident for the US military since the Vietnam War.

Moments later the second attacker struck a base containing French paratroopers, killing 58 personnel. Six civilians were also killed in the attacks.

The bombings came months after the April 18 suicide bombing on the US embassy in Beirut that killed 63 and marked a surge in attacks on American interests.

A federal judge in New York ordered Iran's central bank and a European intermediary on Wednesday to pay out $1.68 billion to family members of troops killed in the bombing.

US District Judge Loretta Preska said a 2019 federal law stripped Bank Markazi, the Iranian central bank, of sovereign immunity from the lawsuit, which sought to enforce a judgment against Iran for providing material support to the attackers.

Why have Iran and Hezbollah been implicated?

The attack was claimed by a previously unknown a Shiite militia group called Islamic Jihad. This is a different organisation to the Palestinian militant group of the same name.

Iran-backed Hezbollah, the Lebanese armed group and political party that remains a powerful force in Lebanon to this day, did not officially exist at the time. Islamic Jihad was established to counter the western and Israeli presence in Lebanon during the multi-faceted war. The group was long suspected of being simply a front for or a precursor to Hezbollah.

Indeed, senior Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyeh was among those suspected of orchestrating the attacks and may have been the leader of Islamic Jihad. One of the world's most wanted men who for years was able to evade capture, the veteran operative was assassinated in Syria in 2008.

What was the US response to the Beirut barracks bombing?

Ronald Reagan, who was US president at the time, described the attacks as despicable. France and the US carried out a number of limited attacks on pro-Iranian and Syrian targets.

By the middle of 1984, the Multinational Force in Lebanon ― comprised of American, French, Italian and British soldiers ― had withdrawn from Lebanon.

The Lebanese Civil War would continue to rumble on until 1990, leaving about 120,000 people dead and causing about a million to flee the country.