Gunman arrested after opening fire outside US embassy in Lebanon

An armed man was arrested after opening fire Wednesday in front of the US embassy in Lebanon, the Lebanese army announced.

The military said in a statement that the embassy was “exposed to fire” from a wounded Syrian national by troops responding to the incident. The army added that the shooter was arrested and taken to hospital for treatment.

The embassy, ​​which is located in a secure area north of Beirut, said “small arms fire” was reported “near” its entrance at 8:34 a.m. local time. She reported no casualties among her staff and praised the rapid response of her security team and Lebanese troops.

Images published in Lebanese media showed the attacker covered in blood and wearing a black vest emblazoned with the words “Islamic State” in Arabic as well as the English letters “I” and “S,” according to the Associated Press, although this is the motive for the attack. has not yet been confirmed.

Local reports also suggest a shooting involving at least one attacker lasted nearly half an hour, and a video circulating on social media appears to show a gunman in a parking lot near the embassy entrance shooting which looks like an assault rifle, according to the AP.

A Lebanese security source separately told Reuters that soldiers wounded the gunman in the stomach.

Shots were fired near the U.S. Embassy in September, but no injuries were reported in that incident. Last year, CNN reported that the sprawling embassy compound located about 8 miles (13 kilometers) from central Beirut was causing controversy given its size and “opulence” in the impoverished country.

The incident occurred 40 years after the 1983 bombing of the former U.S. embassy site in the Lebanese capital that killed 63 people — an attack that U.S. officials blamed on Hezbollah. The militant group is currently involved in fighting with Israeli forces along Lebanon's southern border, displacing tens of thousands of people into Lebanon and Israel.