The main entrance of the US embassy in Awkar, north of Beirut, which was targeted by gunfire on Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023. (Credit: Mohammad Yassin/L'Orient Today)
BEIRUT — The 26-year-old Lebanese man who shot at the US embassy last week said his actions were motivated by “revenge” against one of the security guards at the complex who “humiliated” him two months ago.
Lebanese police announced Monday evening that they had arrested the presumed shooter. Armed with a Kalashnikov, the man fired over a dozen bullets at the building in Awkar on Wednesday, Sept. 20, but caused no injuries.
“During the interrogation, he confessed to firing gunshots toward the wall of the US Embassy building in the Awkar area and stated that the reason for his actions was an incident that occurred in front of the Embassy about two months ago when he was delivering food orders as a driver for a delivery company,” police said in a statement.
“During that delivery, he claimed that he was insulted by one of the security personnel. He delivered the order, left, and decided to seek revenge for the humiliation he endured,” the statement continued.
While delivering orders in the Awkar area, the man allegedly observed and scouted an internal route to the US Embassy building that didn't pass through a security checkpoint
“On Sept. 20, at around 11 p.m., he brought a Kalashnikov rifle from his home and 30 rounds of ammunition concealed within a dedicated cover, which he placed inside a cloth bag for transporting food deliveries on his motorbike. He wore a cloth cap on his head, went directly to Awkar alone, took an internal route to avoid the security checkpoint, parked his motorbike in front of a nearby residential building, and proceeded on foot to the main entrance of the embassy, with the Kalashnikov rifle concealed in its cover," read the police statement.
"He quickly took out the mentioned rifle and fired several shots towards the wall of the embassy building, then fled towards his home.”
Not the first time
The man also admitted that, while seeking asylum in Poland in 2021, he had an altercation with a Polish officer who allegedly insulted him. In response, he said he had assaulted the officer, resulting in his deportation to Lebanon.
Legal procedures were initiated against the man and he was referred, along with the confiscated items, to the competent authority.
The US Embassy shooting coincided with the anniversary of a deadly 1984 car bombing outside an annex of the US Embassy in Beirut, which Washington attributed to Hezbollah.
