Disaster in Lebanon: US and French Operations in 1983Until today there are frequently discussions about what exactly were the MNF-troops looking for in Lebanon: the situation in the country at the time was such that there was no possibility of establishing a durable peace, and the Americans, French, and the Italian could not but end being entangled into serious arguments with most of the involved parties – including the Israelis. On 2 February 1983, for example, a column of Israeli tanks attempted to enter the US compound around the Beirut IAP. The Israelis were so stubborn in their insistence to enter the area that a captain of the US Marines had to climb to the leading Merkava and threaten the commander to turn around at a gun-point. When the Israeli column refused to pull away from the USMC finally deployed several AH-1T Cobra helicopters, equipped with TOW-anti-tank missiles, forcing them to do so under a threat of attack. This incident could not change anything in the way the Muslims regarded the presence of the MNF-troops as a threat to their positions. Quite on the contrary, as soon as the US troops started mounting joint patrols with the Lebanese army, in March and April 1983, their bases came under attacks by the Shi’ia and the Syrians. Then the situation escalated.
