Multinational Force in Lebanon

rdf:langString Multinational Force in Lebanon

rdf:langString Multinational Force Beirut – Lebanon

rdf:langString Clockwise from top left: United States Navy LARC-V landing in Beirut, September 1982; Lebanese Army in Beirut, 1982; Italian President Sandro Pertini in Lebanon during a visit to the Italian contingent in 1983; PLO office in Sidon, 1982; Fighter jet taking off from French aircraft carrier Foch off the coast of Lebanon, 1983; French Aérospatiale SA 330 Puma helicopters in Beirut, Lebanon, 1983; USMC Bell AH-1T SeaCobra helicopter on patrol outside the city of Beirut, May 1983; U.S. Marines on patrol in Beirut, April 1983; Israeli troops in Sidon, August 1982; Green Line, Beirut 1982

rdf:langString Paratroopers Brigade Folgore and San Marco Battalion, B. Gen. Franco Angioni

rdf:langString BGen. Jim R. Joy

rdf:langString Col. James M. Mead

rdf:langString Col. Thomas M. Stokes, Jr.

rdf:langString Col. Timothy J. Geraghty

rdf:langString Lt. Col. John de P. Ferguson

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rdf:langString USMNF

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rdf:langString British Forces

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rdf:langString French Forces

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rdf:langString Italian Forces

rdf:langString Aug. 25, 1982 – Mar. 31, 1984

rdf:langString March 1984

rdf:langString Beirut, Lebanon

rdf:langString Patches

rdf:langString Interposition force

rdf:langString Peacekeeping mission

rdf:langString Multinational Force Beirut – Lebanon

rdf:langString The Multinational Force in Lebanon (MNF) was an international peacekeeping force created in August 1982 following a 1981 U.S.-brokered ceasefire between the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Israel to end their involvement in the conflict between Lebanon's pro-government and pro-Syrian factions. The ceasefire held until June 3, 1982 when the Abu Nidal Organization attempted to assassinate Shlomo Argov, Israel's ambassador to London. Israel blamed the PLO and three days later invaded Lebanon. West Beirut was besieged for seven weeks before the PLO acceded to a new agreement for their withdrawal. The agreement provided for the deployment of a Multinational Force to assist the Lebanese Armed Forces in evacuating the PLO, Syrian forces and other foreign combatants involved in Lebanon's civil war. The four-nation MNF was created as an interposition force meant to oversee the peaceful withdrawal of the PLO. The participants included the U.S. Multinational Force (USMNF), which consisted of four different Marine Amphibious Units (MAUs); British 1st Queens Dragoon Guards armoured reconnaissance regiment; the 1st inter-arm Foreign and French Brigade, 4 Foreign Legion Regiments, 28 French Armed Forces regiments including French and Foreign paratroopers, units of the National Gendarmerie, Italian paratroopers from the Folgore Brigade, infantry units from the Bersaglieri regiments and Marines of the San Marco Regiment. Additionally, the MNF was in charge of training various units of the Lebanese Armed Forces. The relatively benign environment at the beginning of the mission gave way to chaos as the civil war re-escalated following the assassination of President-elect Bashir Gemayel in September 1982. Subsequent political and military developments on the ground caused the MNF to be viewed not as a peacekeeper, but as a belligerent. In early 1984, after it became apparent that the government of Lebanon was no longer able to impose its will on warring factions as they entered Beirut and hostilities renewed, the MNF ended its presence mission in Beirut and went offshore before completely leaving Lebanon in July of the same year in the aftermath of the October 1983 barracks bombing that killed 241 U.S. and 58 French servicemen. It was replaced by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) already present in Lebanon since 1978 under the leadership of Ghanaian Lieutenant General Emmanuel Erskine.