Aerial view of the United States Embassy in Beirut, 1983, after a bomb destroyed part of the building. Fred Burton's latest book, Beirut Rules, covers the story of the kidnapping and murder of CIA Station Chief William Buckley at the hands of Hezbollah terrorists following the U.S. Embassy bombing in Lebanon.
BOOK ONE: THUNDER AND LIGHTNING Chapter 1: THE PREAMBLE TO DISASTER The shahada [martyrs] are the candles of society. They burn themselves out and illuminate society. If they do not shed their light, no organization can shine. — Iranian Ayatollah Morteza Mutaharri 1 The Israeli military headquarters in Tyre was a seven-story high-rise situated inland from the sea, and the site from which most of Israel's security and intelligence operations in southern Lebanon were controlled. The building was the administrative nerve center for Israel Defense Forces units operating in the area, and it housed two companies of Border Guard policemen as well. The Border Guards, Israel's paramilitary police arm, were in Lebanon to maintain law and order in the towns and villages of southern Lebanon. The policemen represented the mosaic of Israeli society and included Jews, Druzes, Bedouins, and Circassians.
