JOURFIXE

The Multinational Force in Lebanon (also MNF) was an international peacekeeping force created in 1982 and sent to Lebanon to oversee the withdrawal of the Palestine Liberation Organization. The participants included contingents of United States Marines and Navy SEALs, French paratroopers, Italian soldiers, and British soldiers.
The French troops landed in Beirut on August 21, with the U.S. troops (32nd Marine Amphibious Unit from Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune) arriving on August 24 and the Italians on August 26. This initial force consisted of 800 Americans, 400 French, and 800 Italian troops. The PLO withdrew from Beirut to Tunisia on August 30; the Marines and the other foreign troops later withdrew to ships in the Mediterranean Sea.

A multinational force landed in Beirut on 20 August 1982 to oversee the PLO withdrawal from Lebanon and U.S. mediation resulted in the evacuation of Syrian troops and PLO fighters from Beirut. The agreement also provided for the deployment of a multinational force composed of U.S. Marines along with French, Italian and British units. However, Israel reported that some 2,000 PLO militants were hiding in Palestinian refugee camps on the outskirts of Beirut.