- Tyre headquarters bombings
The Tyre truck bombings were two
suicide bombing s against theIsraeli Defense Forces ' headquarters building inTyre ,Lebanon , in 1982 and 1983. The blasts killed more than 100 Israelis and dozens of Lebanese and were some of the worst losses ever for the IDF. Israel believes both to be the responsibility ofHezbollah .First bombing
After invading Lebanon in June, the Israeli military set up command posts to run the cities they occupied. On
November 11 ,1982 , aPeugeot car packed with explosives struck the seven-story building being used by the Israeli military to govern Tyre. The explosion leveled the building and killed 75 Israeli soldiers, border policemen, andShin Bet agents. In addition, anywhere from 14-27 Lebanese prisoners were killed. [cite book |last=Bergman |first= Ronan |coauthors=|title= The Secret War With Iran |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year= 2008 |month= September |isbn= 1-4165-5839-X ] Twenty-seven Israelis and 28 Arabs were injured.The Israeli government said soon after the blast, and insists to this day, that the explosion was an accident resulting from
gas cylinder s exploding. [http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Foreign%20Relations/Israels%20Foreign%20Relations%20since%201947/1982-1984/HIGHLIGHTS%20OF%20MAIN%20EVENTS-%201982-1984] [Bergman, 64.] This is contrary to the three witnesses who saw the Peugeot speed to the building, the identification of the car's parts in the rubble of the building, and the existence of a Shin Bet report detailing the Hezbollah preparations for the bombing. [Bergman, 65.]There is also a monument near
Baalbek , Lebanon dedicated to Ahmad Qassir, the suicide bomber, for his "martyrdom" on November 11, 1982. [http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?apage=2&cid=1220526712951&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull]econd bombing
Almost exactly a year later, a nearly identical bombing happened in Tyre. A suicide bomber drove a pickup truck filled with explosives into a Shin Bet building at an army base in Tyre. The explosion killed 28 Israelis and 32 Lebanese prisoners, and wounded about 40 others. [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,952250,00.html]
ee also
*
1983 Beirut barracks bombing References
External links
* [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article693342.ece When in Rome, don't forget the bombs of 1983] - Article on Ahmed Qassir
* [http://www.geocities.com/martinkramerorg/Sacrifice.htm Sacrifice and "Self-Martyrdom" in Shi'ite Lebanon]
* [http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2006/10/suicide-superpower-martyrdom-as-weapon.html Suicide Superpower: Martyrdom as a Weapon of Mass Destruction ]
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