Reagan orders Marines out of Lebanon after truck bomb kills 241 US personnel, ending multinational peacekeeping mission

President Reagan ordered the US Marines to withdraw from Lebanon on February 7, 1984, four months after a truck bomb killed 241 American military personnel at the Beirut barracks on October 23, 1983. The Marines had entered Lebanon in August 1982 as part of a multinational peacekeeping force overseeing the Palestinian withdrawal. Reagan's decision came after congressional support for the mission collapsed following the bombing. The withdrawal was completed February 26, 1984, and US intelligence later attributed the bombing to elements that became Hezbollah, backed by Iran and Syria.