AJC Remembers the U.S, French Soldiers Brutally Murdered by Hezbollah

NEW YORK, Oct. 23, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AJC remembers with deep sorrow the 241 American and 58 French soldiers who were murdered by Hezbollah bombings in Beirut 30 years ago today.

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"American and French marines came to Beirut as peacekeepers, to help write a new chapter of peace and stability for Lebanon," said AJC Executive Director David Harris. "Hezbollah and its Iranian patron had different plans, however. They have left Lebanon -- and other countries -- scarred by terrorist violence and destruction."

The twin bombing attacks on October 23, 1983, were preceded six months earlier by the Hezbollah bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, which killed 63 people.

The U.S. government designated Hezbollah a terrorist organization in 1999. The European Union designated the terrorist organization's "military wing" in July 2013, a year after Hezbollah perpetrated a deadly attack in EU member state Bulgaria.

"Everyone should recognize the evil that is Hezbollah and the cold reality that it exists to carry out the will of Iran's Islamist regime, the foremost state sponsor of global terrorism," said Harris. "Let's hope that, on this sad anniversary of the Beirut bombings -- as we recall the victims and their grieving and scarred families -- nations truly committed to confronting terrorism will redouble their efforts against the perpetrators and their sponsors."

SOURCE American Jewish Committee