BEIRUT — A gunman opened fireplace on the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon early Wednesday and was shot and wounded by Lebanese troops, the nation’s military stated in an announcement.
The embassy, in a put up on X, stated that at 8:34 a.m., “small arms fireplace was reported within the neighborhood of the doorway” to the mission. It added that the “facility and our crew are secure.”
The military assertion recognized the shooter as a Syrian nationwide and stated he was taken into custody and hospitalized. A military spokesman stated the motive for the assault was unknown.
U.S. missions all through the Center East have been on excessive alert all through the battle in Gaza, together with in Lebanon, the place protesters have voiced anger on the Biden administration’s stalwart backing for Israel’s army. In October, protesters set fireplace to a constructing close to the embassy, within the hilly Awkar suburb of Beirut.
The embassy was moved from its location contained in the capital after 1983, when a suicide bomber attacked the mission, killing 63 individuals.
Roads across the embassy have been briefly closed Wednesday after the taking pictures, state media reported. Prime Minister Najib Mikati, in a assertion carried by the state information company, stated “intensive investigations” have been underway to “arrest all these concerned.”
The assertion added that U.S. Ambassador Lisa A. Johnson, was exterior of Lebanon when the assault occurred.
