Beirut Marine Barracks Bombing Fast Facts

Here is a look at the 1983 bombing of a Marine compound in Beirut, Lebanon, that killed 241 US service personnel.

On October 23, 1983, 241 US service personnel - including 220 Marines and 21 other service personnel - are killed by a truck bomb at a Marine compound in Beirut, Lebanon.

Three hundred service members had been living at the four-story building at the airport in Beirut. There were 1,800 Marines stationed in Beirut at the time.

A multi-national force with units from France, Italy and the United Kingdom was also on peacekeeping duty in Lebanon at the same time.

At the same time the Marine barracks was hit, a suicide bomber drove a pickup truck full of explosives and crashed into a building housing French paratroopers. Approximately 58 French soldiers were killed in the attack.

This was the deadliest attack against US Marines since the battle over Iwo Jima in 1945.

The bombing was traced to Hezbollah, a militant and political group that originated in Lebanon in 1982. Iranian and Syrian involvement was also suspected.