Washington Report, November 14, 1983, Page 6

Facts For Your Files: A Chronology of U.S.-Middle East Relations

October 30:

Two hundred additional U.S. marines arrived in Lebanon. According to a Pentagon announcement of October 29, their role is to provide added security for clean-up operations at the marine compound, where at least 237 American soldiers, at the latest count, were killed in a terrorist bombing October 23. The new arrivals bring the total number of U.S. marines in Lebanon to about 2,000—including up to 200 men who perform duties during the day but who return to U.S. ships offshore at night.

October 30:

Deputy Secretary of State Kenneth W. Dam, when asked on a television news program if he knew who committed the October 23 bombing of the U.S. marine compound in Lebanon, replied: "We see evidence, circumstantial still, of rather deep Iranian involvement, and we certainly believe that the Syrians must have been cognizant of what was going on."

November 1:

At a meeting of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) withdrew a $220 million proposal—which he had earlier attached, at the Reagan Administration's request, to the 1984 Defense Department appropriations bill—to train and supply a Jordanian military strike force for use in possible emergencies in the Gulf. Senator Stevens said after the meeting that he withdrew it "after hearing what the other Senators (in the Committee) had to say" and realizing that it did not have enough votes for passage.

November 2:

The House voted 274 to 153 against an amendment to the 1984 Defense Department appropriations bill which would have forced the withdrawal of U.S. marines from Lebanon by cutting off all funding for the operation by March 1, 1984. The measure was co-sponsored by Clarence D. Long (D-Md.) and Samuel S. Stratton (D-N.Y.).

November 3:

President Reagan named Donald H. Rumsfeld to be the new U.S. envoy to the Middle East, replacing Robert C. McFarlane, who had been appointed national security affairs advisor to the President on October 17. Mr. Reagan also announced that Richard Fairbanks would continue his role as U.S. representative to Lebanon's national reconciliation negotiations. Mr. Rumsfeld will direct U.S. efforts to obtain the withdrawal of foreign forces from Lebanon and to implement President Reagan's Middle East peace initiative of September 1, 1982.

November 8:

A force of nearly 200 U.S. marines withdrew from its outpost at Lebanon University's science building in southeast Beirut and was later ferried to U.S. ships offshore, leaving the position to Lebanese army troops. The move came less than 24 hours after the marine force had fought an intense gunbattle with guerrillas. The withdrawal will leave up to an estimated 1,800 U.S. marines on the ground in Lebanon.