The beach was the location of major events during the war in Lebanon. On April 10, 1973, a seaborne Israeli commando unit that landed in Dora, departed from Ramlet al- Bayda after assassinating PLO officials, Muhammad Al Najjar, Kamal Adwan, and Kamal Nasser.[3] The corpse of Francis Meloy, the incoming U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon, was discovered on this beach on 16 June 1976. In 1983, a terrorist group, believed to be Iranian-backed,[4] bombed the barracks of the French peacekeepers that were stationed four miles from the beach area.[5] The attack killed 58 French soldiers.[6]