In my last post I discussed Hezbollah and the lessons learned from the 1983 attack on the U.S. Marines in Beirut. Hezbollah has since targeted Americans around the world, taking hostages in Lebanon (leading to the Iran-Contra Scandal) and attacking Americans in Europe and Saudi Arabia. They were relatively inactive against Americans in the late 1990s (they were too busy attacking Israel.)

But they may be back in the business of targeting Americans. The October 15 attack on a U.S. diplomatic convoy traveling in Gaza, in which 3 American security guards were killed, has all the trademarks of Hezbollah. In the October 15 attack a vehicle with U.S. diplomatic plates was destroyed by a mine buried under the road. The mine was detonated by remote (a wire was found from scene of the attack) rather than by contact. This allowed a Palestinian police vehicle to drive over the mine first.

Hezbollah gained experience ambushing Israeli vehicles in the long war in with Israel in Lebanon. They shared their expertise with the Palestinians, who have successfully ambushed and destroyed 3 Israeli Merkava tanks. While the attack has been officially attributed to a rogue faction called the Popular Resistance Committee - this is not the end of the story.

First, the planning, intelligence, and quantity of explosives make it unlikely an independent cell could have pulled off the operation. Second, terrorist groups form and disband fronts at will to deflect responsibility. Also the various Palestinian factions are cooperating closely across ideological and religious divides. One feature of the Intifada is what are known as "cocktail cells" in which a terrorist cell includes members from several different factions. At the same time, these committees could be a direct Hezbollah front. In addition to cooperating closely with all Palestinian factions, Hezbollah is developing its own network in the West Bank, Gaza, and among Israeli Arabs.

Getting far less coverage, but also interesting is that two days later on October 17 a convoy of U.S. diplomats in Lebanon was intercepted by Hezbollah fighters and prevented from inspecting sites on the Lebanese-Israeli border. Hezbollah effectively controls southern Lebanon. Apparently, the Hezbollah fighters permitted UN personnel to continue on, but forced the Americans to turn back and tailed the U.S. convoy for some distance. Hezbollah and the Lebanese government insist that the U.S. Embassy did not coordinate the trip beforehand.

Two incidents between U.S. diplomatic personnel and Hezbollah within a few days is probably not a coincidence. It is possible that Hezbollah, acting on behalf of its patron Syria, is sending a message to the U.S. which has been increasing pressure on Syria and supported a recent Israeli airstrike against Syria.

Hello and welcome to profilesinterror.com. In my book, Profiles in Terror, I tried to provide accurate, comprehensive background on the major terrorist organizations of the Middle East.

I intend to continue this project in this blog. I don’t claim to have any inside sources or top-secret information. But I can sift through public sources and find information that has been overlooked and sometimes, perhaps, connect the dots.

In my book, I carefully avoid speculation and stay close to the facts. Here, I will indulge in some speculation – but I promise to let the reader know when I do so.

Today is a fitting day to begin this blog. It is the 20th anniversary of the suicide truck bombing of the U.S. Marine and the French Foreign Legion Headquarters in Beirut. This carefully timed suicide attack was a terrible portent of the future of terrorism, and perhaps the most effective terrorist act in history.

The Marines and the Legionnaires, along with British and Italian soldiers were in Beirut to keep the peace in strife-torn Lebanon. Early in the morning a truck packed with six tons of explosives slammed into the U.S. Marine Headquarters and 241 were killed. That same morning, a truck hit the French Headquarters and 52 French soldiers were killed. Initially Presidents Reagan and Mitterand stated that they were committed to keeping order in Lebanon. But as the situation in Lebanon deteriorated the peacekeepers were in an increasingly precarious position. In February 1984 they were withdrawn.

The attack was attributed to Hezbollah and its state sponsors Iran and Syria.

Other terror attacks have resulted in more deaths. But this attack led to the American withdrawal, which in turn left Lebanon to the tender mercies of Syria, Iran, and Hezbollah. More importantly, terrorists took the lesson that Western societies cannot take casualties and that therefore terrorism is effective.

Many commentators have noted that the origins of 9/11 can be traced to the 1983 attacks. Osama bin Laden was inspired by the success of the Beirut attack, and launched attacks on U.S. forces in Yemen and Somalia that also led to withdrawals. Inspired, bin Laden launched more and more ambitious attacks - finally culminating in 9/11. Hezbollah provided al-Qaeda with essential support and training in logistics, developing explosives to destroy buildings, and carrying out simultaneous attacks.

Iraqis and jihadis fighting the U.S. in Iraq are also motivated by the Hezbollah model. Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon after almost two decades of fighting Hezbollah played a role in sparking the al-Aqsa Intifada - because the Palestinians were led to believe that Israel was soft and could be beaten.

Twenty years ago the terrorists learned the wrong lesson. Hopefully, the last two decades have taught us the right lesson - retreat in the face of terror only emboldens the terrorists.