Pence to mark anniversary of Marine Corps barracks bombing

Vice President Pence is set to mark the anniversary of the 1983 bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, on Monday by visiting the Marine Barracks in Washington, D.C., the White House announced Sunday.

Pence will meet with some of the survivors before delivering formal remarks about the devastating attack that left 241 U.S. service personnel dead.

{mosads}He will commemorate what became the deadliest attack against U.S. Marines since the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II. 

On October 23, 1983, a truck loaded with 2,000 pounds of explosives drove into the Marine compound, triggering a massive explosion in the barracks.

Then-President Ronald Reagan sent the Marines to Beirut in 1982 on a peacekeeping mission during the Lebanese civil war. Four months after the truck bomb attack, the troops withdrew.

The U.S. determined Hezbollah, a terrorist group, carried out the attack with the backing of the Iranian government. 

The bombing ultimately led to a landmark Supreme Court case in 2016, in which the nation’s highest court ruled that the families of soldiers who died in the 1983 bombing victims should be allowed to collect nearly $2 billion in restitution from Iran.