U.S. AMBASSADOR, ECONOMIC COUNSELOR AND EMBASSY DRIVER ASSASSINATED IN BEIRUT

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 07086818
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: October 23, 2023
• Document Release Date: September 25, 2023
• Case Number: F-2019-02115
• Publication Date: June 22, 1976

Approved for Release: 2023/09/12 C07086818
ARTICLES
U.S. Ambassador, Economic Counselor and Embassy Driver
Assassinated in Beirut
Francis E. Meloy, Jr., the U.S. ambassador to Lebanon;
Robert 0. Waring, the economic counselor; and Zuhayr Mughrabi
the ambassador's driver/bodyguard, were found shot to death
in the Ramlet al7Beida section of Beirut on 16 June. The
newly arrived ambassador, accompanied by Waring, was on his
way to a meeting with President-elect Sarkis set for 1100 at
the latter's home in the eastern sector of the city, which
is Christian held. The men had left the embassy in the
Moslem-controlled western section at 1040. The armor-plated
car was not seen after passing the last checkpoint on the
Moslem side. A security escort car had turned back before
seeing the ambassador's car cross into the Christian section.
Somewhere between the Moslem checkpoint and the Christian
side the three men were abducted. This area is known as no-
man's land, controlled by thugs and street gangs, many of
which have some type of affiliation with the better known
Palestinian groups such as the ULF. At 1055 the embassy
received a garbled radio message which was interpreted as
the pre-arranged codeword to indicate safe arrival on the
Christian side.
The first indication that something was amiss came when
the driver's wife advised the embassy of a telephone call
she had received. An anonymous caller said that Zuhayr had
been kidnapped with two other people, but he was okay. They
were after the two others and not Zuhayr. Mrs. Mughrabi
said the telephone call was similar to the one she had re-
ceived when her husband was kidnapped on a previous occasion
about a year ago. (See the 20 May 1975 issue.)
On 17 June the Palestine Liberation Organization an-
nounced that it had captured the killers and that they would
be handed over to the joint Arab peacekeeping force, which
had not yet arrived in Lebanon, for disciplinary action.
The communique did not provide any details on the identities
or the capture. Several unconfirmed press reports indicated
that five men were in PLO custody and that they belong to
the Arab Communist Organization, a radical leftist Lebanese
group responsible for attacking American firms in the past.
SECRET
CONTRACT! ORCON
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NOPORN/ NOCONTRACT /ORGUN
Some press accounts identified the killers as members of the
Lebanese Socialist Revolutionary Organization, also known as
the Shibbu gang, which is believed to have merged into the
ACO. (See the issues of (b)(3) 29 July 1975.)
At this point it is not known what group is responsible for
the murders.
The bodies of Francis Meloy and Robert Waring were
carried out of Lebanon to Syria by a British-led convoy on
18 June. They were flown to the United States on 19 June
for burial. (UNCLASSIFIED)
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