US Marines land in Beirut on rescue mission

BEIRUT, July 20 (Reuters) About 40 US Marines landed on a beach in Beirut today to help with the evacuation of Americans caught up a week-long Israeli bombardment of Lebanon.

The Marines came ashore at dawn on a landing craft from the troop carrier USS Nashville.

The Marines were returning to Lebanon nearly 23 years after Hizbollah guerrillas blew up a Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983, killing 241 Marines and other service personnel.

REUTERS SP VA BST1016