The Marine Corps’ top general and survivors are gathering to mark 30 years since the deadly Beirut barracks bombing that many consider the opening blast in America’s war against terrorists.
Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Amos will speak Wednesday at a memorial bordering Camp Lejeune that honors the deadliest terrorist attack on Americans prior to Sept. 11, 2001.
Many of the 241 Americans killed on Oct. 23, 1983, were members of Camp Lejeune’s 24th Marine Amphibious Unit.
A suicide truck-bomber attacked the military barracks in Lebanon’s capital that was home to a U.S. peacekeeping force. A U.S. investigation blamed lax security for allowing the terrorist to get into the Marines’ compound.
The bombing was blamed on the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran.
Iran’s defense minister
Iraninan Brig. Gen. Hossein Dehghan, Hassan Rouhani’s choice for Defense minister was a commander overseeing Hezbollah forces (an Iranian proxy) in Lebanon in 1983 when the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut were bombed.
Dehghan spent his military career in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, serving from its inception in 1979 and taking command of its air force in 1990. Dehghan was given command of the Revolutionary Guard force in Lebanon around 1983, and moved later that year to set up a Revolutionary Guard headquarters in the country’s Beqaa Valley.
News Observer
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