It has been said that, one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter. When examining

Syria and Lebanon are two dramatically different states with a deeply intertwined history. They were both born out of French interventionism following World War 1, and have experienced complex and strained relations ever since. The two nations have both experienced prodigious political turmoil since gaining their independence, with both suffering from civil wars and conflict with their mutual neighbor, Israel. The war and turmoil that has plagued these two countries can be traced back to various competing national interests, as well as a struggle for regional power. The various religious groups in the area have historically formed transnational advocacy networks with the intent of influencing regional politics. These groups have proved to of been a major factor in the history of both nations.

The Marines had been sent to Lebanon as peace-keepers, trying to bring some peace to a civil war that was ongoing in Lebanon. Military observers subsequent to that horrific event have suggested that this terrorist assault was the beginning of the reign of terror that radical Islamic would continue to perpetrate on Americans through the next twenty years.

Lebanese Army. Hezbollah receives military training, weapons, and financial support from Iran, and political support from Syria. This is another terrorist group that are well trained and ready to kill without any remorse. Do you think that some day we will be able to live without fear these

The fact is that Iran is the leading state-sponsor of terrorism, with government officials directly responsible for numerous terrorist attacks since 1979. These include suicide bombings of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut and the Marine barracks at Beirut International Airport; the bombing of Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia in 1996; attacks against more than a dozen embassies in Iran, including those of Britain, the U.S. and Saudi Arabia; and the assassination of diplomats

On March 30, 1981 John Hinckley Jr shot at the Then-President of the United States, Ronald Reagan, as he walked from the Washington Hilton Hotel to his limo. The President was hit in the armpit and two of his guards were also shot as well as his aide. President Reagan went into a 2-Hour surgery and survived the attempt on his life with a couple of scars. April 18, 1983 in Beirut, Lebanon, a man drove a truck into the US Embassy and detonated about 2,000 pounds of explosives. Instantly killing 63 people, including 13 American CIA operatives. Just a year before this brutal attack the military forces of the United States of America and some European nations stepped in to help the Lebanese government with the third part of their Civil War. The Lebanese Hezbollah and the Islamic Jihad Organization expressed a strong dislike for the American and Israeli forces on the outskirts of Beirut. The Islamic Jihad Organization later claimed responsibility for the bombing. In the aftermath of the attack the Then-Secretary of State George Shultz tasked a team with making sure that the overseas embassies were safe. Their result was the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security and Diplomatic Security Service. On June 14, 1985 two gunman board a

This case shows the relevance to the history of terrorism in the US by shedding light on just how well organized homegrown terrorism can be. This type of terrorism is harder to detect due to extremist having grown up or having been well assimilated here in the US. They are very familiar with the customs, language, and blend in easily all while staying under law enforcement radar.

Terrorist attacks happen all over the world, creating a sense of hysteria and panic to the people surrounding the tragic events. The third most horrific attack in history, in my opinion, happened on 23 October 1989 in Beirut. A Marine barracks was bombed in Beirut, Lebanon killing 220 Marines and 21 other service personnel. This attack was considered to be the deadliest attack to the U.S. Marines since the battle of Iwo Jima in 1945 (CNN, 2015). The bombing was traced back to the Hezbollah militant group along with Iranian and Syrian involvement. Colonel Timothy Geraghty, the commander of the barracks, after much criticism for having lackadaisical security said that it was hard to defend the compound due to local airport traffic. Countermeasure ideas for the Reagan administration were divided. Some said the president should deepen involvement in the Middle East while others feared doing that would lead to a trajectory similar to that of Vietnam. Ultimately, Reagan followed the advice of Secretary Weinberger that if we weren’t in it to win it, then we shouldn’t go to war (FoxNews, 2013). Reagan withdrew the troops in Lebanon and chose to not get involved in the Middle East. It has been over thirty years since the barrack bombing, and this attack is still considered one of the top terror attacks of all time. In fact, the Tamil Tigers performed a copycat attack a few years after this attack. When other terrorists mimic a particular attack, it is an indication of an

For days, military flights brought thousands of Americans out of Iran and into safe countries until on February 10th 1979, Iranians closed the Mehrahad Airport putting a halt on the evacuation of Americans. In response, the Joint Chiefs of Staff were planning and organizing a rescue and support mission to the U.S. Embassy in Iran. Before the rescue and evacuation mission could begin, armed Iranians took over the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and took 102 Americans hostage. Khomeini security returned the hostages and embassy while also getting the airport to be reopened.2

These two organization were not confined to the Lebanese only, as they were joined by Iranians including Mustafa Chamran living in Lebanon before the Iranian revolution, and it was Musa al-Sadr's top aides and the supervisor military branches of the Amal movement, before the outbreak of the Iranian revolution. After the success of the Khomeini revolution Chamran was appointed first secretary of defence in the Iranian government.

Iran gave direct support to Hezbollah through the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. Hezbollah opposed Lebanon because it was supported by Israel and the United States, and in 1985 it issued its political agenda through the “Open Letter to the Downtrodden in Lebanon and in the World.”# In 1989, the Taif Accord emerged and the Lebanese Civil War ended in 1990 when Syrian troops moved into parts of Lebanon that were not occupied by Israel. The Taif Accord balanced powers between Christians and Muslims in Lebanon, and overall tried to maneuver equality amongst both groups although Sunni elites were given the dominant role. After the Taif Accord, economic conditions continued to worsen and many began to underestimate the ability of Syria to control Lebanon. Syria then made the strategic move to promote Rafiq al-Hariri in 1992 to rescue Lebanon from its eventual demise. Hariri was able to boost the economy and revive morale in the Sunni communities. By the 1990s Hariri was capable of governing Lebanon independent of Syria. This began a decline of Syrian support for him, and a decline of Sunni dominance. After Hariri’s assassination in 2005, Syria was able to grasp control of Lebanon once more, and enabled Hezbollah to demonstrate a larger role. First existing as a revolutionary Islamist movement,

The use of the Hezbollah has greatly added to the continuation of the Arab-Israeli conflict and has limited cooperation in all regions. The Hezbollah also attracted U.S. attention after a suicide bomber killed over two hundred Marines in Beirut.

Israel was not the only foreigner in Lebanon. The United Nations also, had French and American soldiers stationed in Lebanon as UN peacekeepers (Byers, 2003). This did not, please Hezbollah, who wanted all foreigners off Lebanese soil. On April 18, 1983, Hezbollah finally struck. A Hezbollah operative drove an explosive laden van into the U.S. embassy in Beirut, Lebanon killing sixty-three individuals (Byers). Encouraged by this success Hezbollah then struck again on October 23, 1986, using suicide bombers in vehicles to blow up both the U.S. Marine Barracks and the French Paratroop Barracks, killing 241 Americans and 58 French. By, February 26, 1984, just four months after the devastating attack on the Marine Barracks the United States pulled its forces out of Lebanon (Byers).

On August 7, 1998, two U.S. embassies were attacked almost simultaneously. One was in Nairobi, Kenya and the other in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The attack in Kenya involved both a truck bomb and at least two suicide bombers. The truck was at the back entrance of the embassy when the bomb went off, and the damage was critical. This attack had more casualties than the bombing in Tanzania because the truck that contained the bomb was able to get into the inner embassy compound. Also, the Nairobi embassy was close to the center of the city which was more populated and led to more deaths. The U.S. embassy was not the only building affected in the explosion. The Ufundi building and the Cooperative Bank which were close by were both severely

In this day and age, we find ourselves at odds with our “identity” as we find that not only are we representing ourselves, but we also have ties to religion, sect, tribe, and family (Angrist). This shows that despite the cohesiveness and threads that attach us, it has the power to pull people, families, and in some cases countries apart. This conflict comes to a head when religion and ethnicity are interwoven. Hence when divisions occur, this can lead to violent wars that destroy trust between individuals. This can ingrain a sense of uneasiness and distrust that plagues people’s ideas and leaves a country divided. This is particularly evident in Lebanon. Ethnic and religious division led to the festering of feelings of marginalization and discrimination, which boiled over into the Lebanese civil war, a war that claimed the lives of 150,000 people (Szekely). The anger and frustration birthed from this to chaos, and conflict has in turn increased the division between ethnic and religious factions and led to the crumbling of Lebanese nationalism. This essay is specifically aimed at assessing the relationships between ethnic and religious divisions in Lebanon and explores how it contributed to the civil war. This is done by identifying and analyzing the main actors and makes an explanation of the historical divisions stemming from the National Pact, branching out to include the consequences of the civil war on the political structures and the identities of the

Think of the word terrorism. What is the first thing that comes to mind? One might think of kidnapping, assassination, bombing, or even genocide and guerrilla warfare. Because it is such a broad and complex issue, an all-encompassing definition is hard to formulate. The United States Department of Defence defines terrorism as…