Lebanon hostage crisis

The Lebanon hostage crisis refers to the kidnapping in Lebanon of 104 foreign hostages between 1982 and 1992, when the Lebanese Civil War was "at its height". 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 adequate medical attention to illnesses.

Those taking responsibility for the kidnapping used different names, but the testimony of former hostages indicates that almost all the kidnappings were done by a single group of about a dozen men, coming from various clans within the Hezbollah organization. Particularly important in the organization was Imad Mughniyah. Hezbollah has publicly denied involvement. The Islamic Republic of Iran is thought to have played a major role in the kidnappings, and may have instigated them.Syria also had some involvement.

The original motive for the hostage-taking is thought to have been to discourage retaliation by the U.S., Syria, or other powers against Hezbollah, which is credited with the killing of 241 Americans and 58 Frenchmen in the Marine barracks and embassy bombings in Beirut. Other explanations for the kidnappings or the prolonged holding of hostages are Iranian foreign policy interests, including a desire to extract concessions from the Western countries, the hostage takers being strong allies of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The tight security measures taken by the hostage-keepers succeeded in preventing the rescue of all but a handful of hostages, and 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 and illegal arms for hostage swap with Iran known as the Iran–Contra affair.

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