Archive photo of the day
Operation Blue Bat, 1958
Stars and Stripes
July 15, 2023
(John Wright/Stars and Stripes)
Lebanon, July 1958: U.S. Marines land on a beach near Beirut during the American effort to back the beleaguered pro-Western Lebanese government of President Camille Chamoun. Although the landing force was prepared for rebel resistance, they were greeted by curious local residents.
Operation Blue Bat — an intervention aimed at protecting the beleaguered Lebanese government — was U.S.’s first combat operation in the Middle East after World War II. Chamoun, increasingly unpopular in his country and going against the Lebanese constitution in seeking another presidential term, had requested aid from the United Nations and the United States. Negotiations between the various Lebanese factions, facilitated with the help of U.S. diplomats, led to agreements that allowed Chamoun to finish his legal presidential term and the election of moderate Christian general Fouad Chebab.
Read more about the operation here.