The front door of the Azerbaijani embassy in Beirut, after being targeted by paint and projectiles during a sit-in. (Credit: Twitter photo / @MEBOEMZ)
The Lebanese Internal Security Forces (ISF) opened an investigation Thursday evening after several protesters threw objects at the Azerbaijani embassy in Lebanon, a security source told L'Orient-Le Jour on Friday.
The incident happened Tuesday during a sit-in organized in front of the diplomatic building in Ain Aar, Metn. On its website, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported Thursday that "a group of about 50 people of Armenian origin had attacked the Azerbaijani embassy headquarters."
According to the text, "bottles containing paint and explosives were thrown at the building."
On Thursday, videos circulated on social media showing dozens of people, some carrying Armenian flags, protesting outside the embassy.
"You have blood on your hands," read one placard, while demonstrators chanted "Azerbaijan is a terrorist state." Several threw projectiles and paint in the direction of the building.
Not premeditated
The sit-in took place after Azerbaijan blocked the Lachine corridor, the only road linking Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh — a mountainous region that is subject to an unresolved territorial dispute between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
Both countries have been fighting over the disputed area since the late 1980s. A second war in 2020 saw the defeat of Armenian forces and significant territorial gains for Azerbaijan.
Predominantly populated by Armenians, the region is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, which in April set up a roadblock at the entrance to the Lachine road for "security reasons," according to the Azerbaijani Minister of Foreign Affairs. But this blockade has raised fears of a humanitarian crisis.
According to a source close to the Armenian community in Lebanon contacted by L'Orient-Le Jour, who did not wish to be identified due to personal sensitivities, Tuesday's incident was "not premeditated."
"They are young Lebanese of Armenian origin who are affected by the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh," added the source.
The Armenian embassy in Beirut could not immediately be reached for comment.
The Lebanese-Armenian community numbers some 140,000 people, most of them descendants of survivors of the massacres perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire during the First World War, which left 1.5 million dead.
Most of the Armenians who took refuge in Lebanon at the time were naturalized when Lebanese nationality was instituted in 1925.
'Reinforced' security
"The attack caused no injuries among the embassy staff," but the protesters dispersed upon the arrival of law enforcement, according to the Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs. "A note was transmitted to the Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs requesting the identification and arrest of the perpetrators of this attack on the embassy."
"The embassy's security has been reinforced, and an investigation is underway," according to the same text.
The 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations stipulates that the embassy of a foreign country in another country is under the security of the host country's authorities.
Reacting to the incident, a diplomatic source at the Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs assured L'Orient-Le Jour that "Lebanon is committed to protecting foreign diplomatic missions in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations."
Without offering further details, the sources said that "[Lebanon] is putting in place all the necessary measures."
