Syrian gunman opens fire on US embassy in Lebanon after Netanyahu threatened to attack the country

By Associated Press

12:39 June 5, 2024, updated 13:36 June 5, 2024

An attack on the US embassy in Lebanon was thwarted after a Syrian opened fire and was captured.

The man was arrested after the shooting on Wednesday near the US embassy in Beirut, the Lebanese army said. The embassy said its staff were safe.

The embassy in the northern suburb of Awkar was “fired upon by a person of Syrian nationality,” the army said in a statement on X (formerly Twitter).

“Army personnel stationed in the area responded to the fires and injured the shooter,” the statement said. “He was arrested and taken to hospital.”

The attack came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned during a visit to a border town hit by Hezbollah rockets that Israel was “prepared for very violent actions in the north.”

The US embassy said that “at 8:34 a.m. (05:34 GMT) … small arms fire was reported near the entrance.”

“Thanks to the rapid response” of the Lebanese army, security forces “and our embassy security team, our facility and our team are safe,” X said.

It added that “investigations are ongoing and we are in close contact with the host country’s law enforcement authorities.”

The Lebanese army said it was investigating the shooting.

An AFP photographer said access to the area around the embassy was blocked because there was a heavy army presence there.

In images posted on social media, a man can be heard saying in Arabic: “There is an attack on the embassy” while gunshots can be heard in the background.

A Justice Ministry source told AFP that security forces were searching forest areas near the embassy for accomplices, adding that the gunman’s injuries were “serious.”

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati spoke to army and security officials who assured him the situation was “under control,” his office said in a statement.

“Investigations are ongoing to determine the circumstances of the incident and to arrest all those involved,” the statement said. It also said that US Ambassador Lisa Johnson is currently outside Lebanon.

In September last year, a gunman opened fire on the US embassy without causing any casualties.

Lebanese police claimed the shooter was a delivery driver seeking revenge for humiliation by security personnel.

The shooting coincided with the anniversary of the deadly car bomb attack outside the annex of the US embassy in Beirut in 1984. The US blamed the attack on the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah.

During the civil war from 1975 to 1990, US diplomatic and military missions in Lebanon were attacked several times; radical Islamists also took several Americans hostage in this context.

The embassy was moved to Awkar after a suicide bombing in April 1983 that killed 63 people.