MI6 Station Beirut

A US marine guards the British Embassy in Beirut in 1983 (US National Archives, public domain).

Beirut was a key MI6 station in the Middle East during the early Cold War, hosting attempts to destabilise a number of regional governments. The city’s significance as an entrepot was overtaken by the Lebanese Civil War from 1975 onwards, which created an increasingly difficult environment for Western diplomats and intelligence officers.