1958 Lebanon crisis The 1958 Lebanon crisis was a Lebanese political crisis caused by political and religious tensions in the country . It included a U . S . military intervention . Background . In July 1958 , Lebanon was threatened by a civil war between Maronite Christians and Muslim s . Tensions with Egypt had escalated earlier in 1956 when pro - western President Camille Chamoun , a Christian , did not break diplomatic relations with the Western powers that attacked Egypt during the Suez Crisis , angering Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser . These tensions were further increased when Chamoun showed closeness to the Baghdad Pact . Nasser felt that the pro - western Baghdad Pact posed a threat to Arab nationalism . As a response , Egypt and Syria united into the United Arab Republic ( UAR ) . Lebanese Sunni Prime Minister Rashid Karami supported Nasser in 1956 and 1958 . Karami formed a national reconciliation government after the 1958 crisis ended . Lebanese Muslims pushed the government to join the newly created United Arab Republic , while the Christians wanted to keep Lebanon aligned with Western powers . A Muslim rebellion that was allegedly supplied with arms by the UAR through Syria caused President Chamoun to complain to the United Nations Security Council . The United Nations sent a group of inspectors that reported that it didn ' t find any evidence of significant intervention from the UAR . The Soviet Premier , Nikita Khrushchev , threatened to use nuclear weapons in the event of an American intervention . The toppling of a pro - Western government in Iraq ' s 14 July Revolution , along with the internal instability , caused President Chamoun to call for American assistance . Operation " Blue Bat " . The President of the United States , Eisenhower responded by authorizing Operation Blue Bat on July 15 , 1958 . This was the first application of the Eisenhower Doctrine under which the U . S . announced that it would intervene to protect regimes it considered threatened by international communism . The goal of the operation was to bolster the pro - Western Lebanese government of President Camille Chamoun against internal opposition and threats from Syria and Egypt . The plan was to occupy and secure the Beirut International Airport , a few miles south of the city , then to secure the port of Beirut and approaches to the city . The chain of command for Operation Blue Bat was as follows : the Eisenhower administration at the strategic level ; Specified Command , Middle East ( SPECCOMME , a ' double - hat ' for Commander in Chief , U . S . Naval Forces , Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean ) at the operational level ; the Sixth Fleet , with aircraft carriers " Saratoga " , " Essex " , and " Wasp , " cruisers " Des Moines " and , and two squadrons of destroyers . At the end of June " Essex " and " Boston " were anchored at Piraeus , Greece , while " Des Moines " , from which Vice Admiral Charles R . Brown was flying his flag , was at Villefranche . Land forces included the 2nd Provisional Marine Force ( Task Force 62 ) and the Army Task Force 201 at the tactical level . Each of these three components influenced Operations Plan 215 - 58 and its execution . The operation involved approximately 14 , 000 men , including 8 , 509 United States Army personnel , a contingent from the 1st Airborne Battle Group , 187th Infantry from the 24th Infantry Division ( based in West Germany ) and 5 , 670 officers and men of the United States Marine Corps ( the 2nd Provisional Marine Force , of Battalion Landing Teams 1 / 8 and 2 / 2 ) . They were supported by a fleet of 70 ships and 40 , 000 sailors . On July 16 , 1958 , Admiral James L . Holloway , Jr . , CINCNELM and CINCSPECCOMME , flew in from London to Beirut airport and boarded , from which he commanded the remainder of the operation . The U . S . withdrew its forces on October 25 , 1958 . President Eisenhower also sent diplomat Robert D . Murphy to Lebanon as his personal representative . Murphy played a significant role in convincing both sides of the conflict to reach a compromise by electing moderate Christian general Fuad Chehab while President Chamoun would continue in power till the end of his term on September 22 .