A force of some 170 riot policemen surrounded the building, cordoning off the area and hiding behind cars and trees to avoid sporadic gunfire from within the embassy compound.
The Portuguese Cabinet under the Prime Minister Mário Soares went into an emergency session during the siege and decided to use for the first time the newly formed, British SAS-trained elite police detachment, the GOE (Grupo de Operações Especiais).
Officials suggested that unforeseen developments may have led the assailants to fear a major police intervention was imminent and caused them to prematurely detonate their explosives.
"[3] Police officials revealed that the two cars were filled with food and explosives, suggesting that the gunmen were prepared for a long siege.
[4] A typewritten message signed by the Armenian Revolutionary Army delivered to The Associated Press office in Lisbon said: "We have decided to blow up this building and remain under the collapse.
From the documents found in the hotel rooms, the police identified the five as Setrak Ajamian, 19 years old; Ara Kuhrjulian, 20; Sarkis Abrahamian, 21; Simon Yahniyan, 21, and Vache Daghlian, 19[6][7] (known in Armenian sources as "The Lisbon five").
Namely, Ronald Reagan reportedly took note of the embassy attack and reacted emotionally, because it involved a female victim (i.e. Cahide Mıhçıoğlu).
While the neutralization terminology was ultimately scrapped in the signed NSDD 138, the directive nevertheless marked a significant shift in U.S. security policy in that it explicitly articulated America's right to defend itself against terrorists.
[9][10] The Armenian community of Glendale, California, held a vigil at a local church to "commemorate and honor the sacrifice" of the five attackers.