1983 US Embassy Bombing in Beirut

On April 18, 1983, at approximately 1:00 p.m. local time, a suicide bomber detonated a van loaded with nearly 2,000 pounds (900 kg) of explosives at the U.S. Embassy compound in Beirut, Lebanon. The van, which had originally been sold in Texas before being resold and shipped to the Gulf region, gained access to the embassy compound and exploded under the portico at the front of the building. According to a former CIA operative's account, the van broke through an outbuilding and crashed into the lobby before detonating. The blast collapsed the central facade of the horseshoe-shaped building, was heard throughout West Beirut, and broke windows as far as a mile away.

The bombing killed 63 people: 32 Lebanese employees, 17 Americans, and 14 visitors and passers-by, with approximately 120 additional people wounded. Among the American dead were eight CIA employees, including the agency's top Middle East analyst and Near East director, Robert Ames, Station Chief Kenneth Haas, and James Lewis, along with most of the Beirut CIA staff. Other victims included William R. McIntyre, deputy director of the U.S. Agency for International Development, two of his aides, four U.S. military personnel, and American journalist and human rights advocate Janet Lee Stevens. Lebanese victims included embassy clerical workers, visa applicants, and nearby motorists and pedestrians.

A group calling itself the Islamic Jihad Organization claimed responsibility in a telephone call shortly after the blast, describing the attack as part of a campaign against "imperialist targets." The United States later came to believe the attack was carried out by Hezbollah, a characterization Hezbollah has denied; the group's spiritual leader, Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah, stated Hezbollah "stood for moderation and restraint." In 2003, Judge Royce Lamberth of the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., found that the bombing was carried out by Hezbollah with the approval and financing of senior Iranian officials, a ruling issued without Iranian participation in the proceedings. A subsequent default judgment awarded $123 million in damages to American victims and family members. Iran's Foreign Minister publicly denied any involvement.

International reaction included condemnation from President Ronald Reagan, condolences from Lebanese President Amine Gemayel and Israeli officials, and legislative action in the U.S. Congress approving additional aid for Lebanon. Following the attack, the embassy relocated to East Beirut, where a second bombing struck the embassy annex in September 1984, killing 22 more people. The 1983 bombing, alongside the October 1983 Marine barracks bombing, prompted a security review known as the Inman Report, leading to the creation of the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security and Diplomatic Security Service.