Lebanon hostage crisis

The Lebanon hostage crisis was the kidnapping in Lebanon of 104 foreign hostages between 1982 and 1992, when the Lebanese Civil War was at its height.^[1] The hostages were mostly Americans and Western Europeans, but 21 national origins were represented. At least eight hostages died in captivity; some were murdered, while others died from lack of medical attention.^[2] During the fifteen years of the Lebanese civil war an estimated 17,000 people disappeared after being abducted.^[3]

The kidnappers used different names, but the testimony of former hostages indicates that almost all of them were kidnapped by a single group of about a dozen men affiliated with the Hezbollah organization.^[4] Particularly important in the organization was Imad Mughniyah.^[5] Hezbollah publicly denied involvement.^[6] The theocratic government of Iran played a major role in the kidnappings,^[7] and may have instigated them.^[8]

The motive for the hostage-taking was to stop the United States and others from retaliating against Hezbollah for killing 241 Americans and 58 French in the Marine barracks and embassy bombings in Beirut in 1983.^[9][10] The kidnappings and prolonged holding of hostages was also attributed to Iranian foreign policy interests, including a desire to extract concessions from the Western countries, the hostage takers being strong allies of Iran.^[11]

The tight security measures taken by the perpetrators prevented the rescue of all but a handful of hostages.^[12] This, along with public pressure from the media and families of the hostages, led to a breakdown of the anti-terrorism principle of "no negotiations, no concessions" by American and French officials. In the United States, the Reagan administration negotiated a secret arms-for-hostage swap with Iran known as the Iran–Contra affair.

The end of the crisis in 1992 is thought to have been precipitated by the need for Western aid and investment by Syria and Iran following the end of the Iran–Iraq War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Hezbollah was promised that it could remain armed following the end of the Lebanese Civil War and that France and America would not seek revenge against it.^[13]