A resident finds a stray bullet in Badaro, Beirut on March 21, 2023. (Courtesy of: Khaled Ghantous)
BEIRUT — Heavy gunfire was heard in Beirut on Tuesday with stray bullets found in Badaro, the Lebanese Army's spokesperson confirmed to L'Orient Today. There were no reported injuries.
The spokesperson did not provide further information on who fired the bullets or why. According to a number of local media outlets, the gunshots were part of a funeral service in the Shatila Palestinian refugee camp.
Celebratory and funeral shooting is commonplace in Lebanon, where arms possession is poorly regulated. On March 8 bullets appeared to narrowly miss a commercial jet landing at Beirut's international airport amid an armed clash in the nearby Jnah neighborhood.
The March 8 gunfire was reportedly part of a fatal gun battle between two rival families.
In late 2022, caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi issued a circular calling on the security forces and regional authorities in Beirut and Mount Lebanon to take "firm and repressive measures" to prevent celebratory gunfire on New Year's Eve. That November, a plane belonging to Lebanon's national carrier Middle East Airlines was hit by a stray bullet, which pierced its fuselage after it landed at the Beirut airport.