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The debate sharpened when the IDF destroyed Syria’s missiles in the Biqa‘ on June 9, raising the specter of a wider war. President Reagan sent Habib to Israel to demand a ceasefire. The IDF halted its advance into the Biqa‘ but continued to the outskirts of PLO-controlled West Beirut. Almost immediately afterward, however, pro-Syrian militias overran West Beirut, and on February 7, Reagan announced that the Marines would withdraw offshore.
