The Price They Paid: In Remembrance of the Victims of the September 20, 1984 Bombing of the U.S. Embassy Annex in Beirut, Lebanon

The 1980s in Lebanon were marked by civil war and Hezbollah's debut as a rising terrorist force against the United States and its allies. Hezbollah's attacks were carefully planned, strategically executed, and carried out with a deadly precision. The group avoided taking direct credit, often claiming responsibility using names like "Islamic Jihad". However, the fingerprints of its growing power were unmistakable. Backed by Iran, Hezbollah carried out the devastating bombing of the U.S. Embassy in West Beirut on April 18, 1983, followed by the attack on the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut on October 23, 1983. 

Following the April 1983 attack, the U.S. Embassy was moved to a compound in Christian-controlled Aukar. This compound, known as the Embassy Annex, was supposedly in a safer location. But for many of the same men and women who had survived the first attack, the nightmare returned with horrifying familiarity on September 20, 1984, when Hezbollah terrorists drove a van packed with thousands of pounds of explosives into the U.S. Embassy Annex.  

The explosion killed more than twenty people and injured dozens more, including American personnel and Lebanese civilians who were waiting for visas or working inside the building.  

For survivors, the legacy of that day has stretched across four decades. The law has since recognized Iran’s role in financing and directing Hezbollah’s terror operations, and courts have awarded judgments to victims and their families. Yet there is a deeper purpose than compensation in these cases. The survivors and the families of the victims deserve accountability, to preserve the truth of what happened, and to honor those whose lives were forever changed. 

Fox McKenna PLLC is proud to represent these victims, particularly the foreign national employees and contractors who saw their service to the United States as the highest honor of their professional lives. For them, working at the embassy was more than a job. It was a declaration of hope, in a country torn apart by civil war, they could build a future alongside America, grounded in ideals of peace, opportunity, and security. The high cost of this pursuit deserves not only remembrance, but justice.