How the US has fared in Lebanon

1982 Aug. 21-25. Multinational peacekeeping force, including US Marines, arrives to evacuate Palestinian guerrillas after Israelis capture Beirut.

Sept. 1. US offers Mideast peace plan.

Sept. 10. Marines leave Lebanon.

Sept. 14. Hundreds of Palestinian refugees are massacred by Christian militia.

Sept. 29. Marines return to Beirut. 1983

April 18. US Embassy in Beirut bombed.

May 17. Israeli-Lebanese troop withdrawal accord reached under US mediation.

Aug. 29. First two marines killed.

Sept. 7-8. First artillery fired by Marines in response to attacks. First US shelling from offshore.

Sept. 28-29. Congress authorizes Marines to stay in Lebanon for 18 months.

Oct. 23. Bombing of Marine and French compounds in Beirut. 241 Americans killed, 58 French.

Dec. 4. Two US Navy jets shot down during attack on Syrian positions.

Dec. 14. Reacting to Syrian attacks on US planes, US ships bombard Syrian positions. 1984

Jan. 18. Malcolm Kerr, president of American University of Beirut, is assassinated.

Feb. 5. Lebanese Cabinet resigns.

Feb. 6. Lebanese opposition captures most of west Beirut.

Feb. 7. Reagan orders phased evacuation of Marines to ships offshore. US steps up air and naval defense of Marines and Lebanese Army.

Feb. 10. American Prof. Frank Regier is kidnapped.

Feb. 26. Marines complete withdrawal from Lebanon. A few military advisers remain.

March 5. President Amin Gemayel abrogates troop withdrawal accord.

March 7. US journalist Jeremy Levin is kidnapped.

March 16. US Embassy official William Buckley is kidnapped.

April 15. Frank Regier is rescued from captivity.

May 8. Benjamin Weir, an American minister, is kidnapped.

Sept. 20. US Embassy annex in east Beirut is bombed.

Dec. 3. Peter Kilburn, an American librarian, is declared missing. 1985

Jan. 8. Martin Jenco, an American priest, is kidnapped.

Feb. 14. Jeremy Levin gains freedom from captivity.