The April 18, 1983, United States embassy bombing was a suicide bombing in Beirut, Lebanon, that killed 63 people, including 17 Americans. The victims were mostly embassy and CIA staff members, but also included several U.S. soldiers and one U.S. Marine. It was the deadliest attack on a U.S. diplomatic mission up to that time, and is considered the beginning of Islamist attacks on U.S. targets. The attack came in the wake of an intervention in the Lebanese Civil War by the U.S. and other Western countries, which sought to restore order and central government authority.