A supposed failed assassination attempt on Islamic cleric Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah in Beirut, Lebanon kills 80 and injures 200 others.
1985 Beirut car bombings
On 8 March 1985, a car bomb exploded between 9 and 45 metres from the house of Shia cleric Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah in Beirut, Lebanon, in a failed assassination attempt by a Lebanese counter-terrorism unit linked to the Central Intelligence Agency. The bombing killed 80 people and injured 200, almost all civilians.
Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah
Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Husayn Fadlallah was a prominent Lebanese-Iraqi Twelver Shia cleric. Born in Najaf, Iraq, Fadlallah studied Islam in Najaf before moving to Lebanon in 1952. In the following decades, he gave many lectures, engaged in intense scholarship, wrote dozens of books, founded several Islamic religious schools, and established the Mabarrat Association. Through the aforementioned association, he established a public library, a women's cultural center, and a medical clinic.
Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. As of 2014, Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the fourth-largest city in the Levant region and the sixteenth-largest in the Arab world. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coast. Beirut has been inhabited for more than 5,000 years, making it one of the oldest cities in the world.
March 8
March 8 is the 67th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 298 days remain until the end of the year.