US embassy in Beirut attacked; wounded gunmen

Lina PortmanJune 5, 2024

0 1 minute read

BEIRUT — A gunman opened fire on the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon early Wednesday and was shot and wounded by Lebanese troops, the country's army said in a statement.

The embassy, in a post on X, indicated that at 8:34 a.m., “small arms fire was reported near the entrance” to the mission. He added that “the facilities and our team are safe.”

Amateur footage broadcast by local media showed the gunman, wearing a black vest with ammunition pouches and jeans and carrying an assault rifle, walking near the embassy before opening fire on a military vehicle who was approaching. Intense gunfire quickly followed before the attacker was arrested.

The army statement identified the shooter as a Syrian national and said he had been taken into custody and hospitalized. An army spokesman said the motive for the attack was unknown.

U.S. missions in the Middle East have been on alert throughout the war in Gaza, including in Lebanon, where protesters have expressed anger over the Biden administration's unwavering support for the Israeli military. In October, protesters set fire to a building near the embassy in Beirut's hilly suburb of Awkar.

The embassy was moved from its location inside the capital after 1983, when a suicide bomber attacked the mission, killing 63 people.

Roads around the embassy were briefly closed on Wednesday after the shooting, state media reported. Prime Minister Najib Mikati, in a statement carried by the official news agency, said “thorough investigations” were underway to “arrest all those involved”.

The statement added that US Ambassador Lisa A. Johnson was outside Lebanon at the time of the attack.