Marines are once again guarding the U.S. Embassy in Beirut around the clock for the first time since the 1980s, Marine Corps Times has learned.

Since Sept. 6, a Marine security guard detachment has been guarding the embassy 24 hours a day, according to information obtained by Marine Corps Times.

Marine security guards are now manning Post One non-stop, which is the entry control point at diplomatic posts from which they observe the lobby, entrance doors and other surroundings. The Marines' primary responsibility is protecting classified materials.

Beirut holds a special place in the Marine Corps' history. The U.S. Embassy in Beirut was hit by bombings in 1983 and 1984; and in October 1983, a massive suicide truck bomb destroyed a Marine Corps barracks at Beirut airport, killing 220 Marines, 18 sailors and three soldiers. Afterward, Marines actively guarded the embassy in Beirut until about 1986, and on a temporary basis until the early 1990s, said Capt. Eric Flanagan, a Marine spokesman at the Pentagon.

This is the first time they've picked up the active mission at the embassy since then.

Following the 2012 attack in Benghazi, Libya that killed Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans, Congress directed the Marine Corps to add 1,000 Marine security guards.

Currently, the Marine Corps has about 1,500 Marine security guards and it plans to add hundreds more next year so that it can meet its target of 2,200 guards by 2016. The State Department has identified about 35 diplomatic posts that need Marine guards, of which the Corps has opened detachments at 17 locations including South Africa, Gabon and the Republic of Congo.

The Marine Corps has also created a Security Augmentation Unit based at Marine Corps base Quantico, Virginia., that has about 130 Marines who can deploy immediately if needed to bolster diplomatic security. Those Marines are trained embassy guards.

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