ON THIS DATE IN 1983: THE BEIRUT MARINE BARRACKS BOMBING

BBC:

1983: Beirut blasts kill US and French troops

At least 146 American marines and 27 French servicemen have been killed after two separate bomb attacks on military headquarters in the Lebanese capital Beirut.

Two lorries containing 4000lb (1.4 tonnes) bombs exploded when they hit the buildings, the US Battalion Landing Team headquarters and the French paratroopers base which are situated just four miles (6km) apart.

The death toll is expected to rise to more than 200 as people remain trapped inside the collapsed buildings.

The two suicide bombers, both of whom died in the attack, have been named as Abu Mazen, 26, and Abu Sijaan, 24. They are reported to be members of a previously unknown group called the Free Islamic Revolutionary Movement.

The group is thought to be made up of Lebanese Shia Muslims and is part of an extremist faction of the Amal militia based in Syrian-occupied eastern Lebanon.

The US Secretary of Defence, Caspar Weinberger, insisted there was "strong circumstantial evidence" that Iran was behind the attacks but did not rule out possible Syrian and Soviet involvement.

• IT WAS IRANIAN BACKED HIZBALLAH.

• 241 MARINES WERE MURDERED BY JIHADOTERRORISTS.

• IT WAS AN EARLY ATTACK IN THE WAR WE ARE STILL FIGHTING.

• REAGAN CUT & RUN - A BIG MISTAKE. HIZBALLAH IS STRONGER NOW THAN THEN. AS IS IRAN. THEY WILL BE TOUGHER TO DEFEAT.

MORE ON THE FIRST PHASE OF WW4 (1979-1983) HERE