Lebanese soldiers deployed near the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, following a shooting on June 5, 2024. (Credit: Joseph Eid/AFP)
BEIRUT — The United States is coordinating with Lebanese authorities after five people were arrested in coordination with a shooting at the American embassy in Beirut, State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller told a press briefing in Washington.
"The US embassy remains in contact with the Lebanese authorities as they investigate the incident. In terms of our embassy's security, the embassy was secured immediately," Miller said.
When asked who perpetrated the attack, Miller noted that one of the people arrested following the shooting was wearing something that appeared to have the insignia for the Islamic State group but added that they were "conducting a full investigation with the Lebanese authorities."
A judicial source told AFP that the seriously wounded gunman had claimed “to have carried out this attack in support of Gaza,” a besieged and devastated territory where a war has been waging between the Israeli army and Palestinian Hamas for almost eight months.
Three men opened fire this morning on the American Embassy in Lebanon, in Awkar, north of Beirut, injuring someone inside the building. Shots were heard and initially reported by several Lebanese media outlets. Five people have been arrested in connection with the incident.
The army released a statement saying a person of Syrian nationality responsible for the shooting was "wounded" by the army when it "responded to the sources of the fire." He was subsequently arrested and taken to hospital for treatment.
A military spokesperson confirmed that a second person was wounded inside the embassy and that the army had deployed patrols in the area. In the hours following the shooting, a soldier in the Awkar area told our reporter on the ground that two of the three gunmen were still at large, which an army source later denied.
Security sources say that State Security and Army Intelligence units arrested the wounded gunman's brother in Majdel Anjar, in the Bekaa district, having set up a series of checkpoints in the area.
Intelligence services also arrested several people suspected to be involved in the case, included an imam from Majdel Anjar, with whom the arrested gunman supposedly had a close relationship.
A photo circulating online, purporting to be of the alleged shooter, shows him wearing a bullet-proof vest with Islamic State group insignia. L'Orient Today was unable to verify the authenticity of the photo.
In a post on its official X account, the U.S. Embassy said that the shooting happened at 8:34 a.m. "in the vicinity of the entrance," to its consulate building.
"Thanks to the quick reaction of the LAF, ISF, and our Embassy security team, our facility and our team are safe," the post reads. "Investigations are underway and we are in close contact with host country law enforcement."
The army had cordoned off at least one kilometer around the embassy and was checking any cars that approached, but the surrounding shops remained open.
Raphael, a telephone salesman living near the embassy, said, when interviewed two hours after the shooting, that "the situation is back to normal,” but residents of the area remained in the dark regarding the incident’s details.
"We used to say that the area is safe thanks to the presence of the American embassy, but now we feel that we are at greater risk, because of the regular demonstrations and shootings,” he said.
Last September, a 26-year-old Lebanese man armed with a Kalashnikov fired over a dozen bullets at the US embassy building one night. No one was injured. The man was arrested and confessed, according to the police, to shooting in "revenge" for having been humiliated by security personnel.
The incident took place 39 years to the day after a car bomb attack, blamed on Hezbollah, outside an annex of the American embassy on September 20, 1984, which left eleven dead and dozens injured.
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said in a statement that he was "monitoring" the situation and had contacted various security services. "The situation is stable and in-depth investigations have been launched to clarify the circumstances of the incident," he said during a meeting with caretaker Minister of Defense Maurice Slim.
He added that, according to the information at his disposal, the American ambassador in Beirut is currently out of the country.
The caretaker Minister of the Interior, Bassam Mawlawi, told al-Arabiya on Wednesday afternoon that “the embassy attacker had transported explosives from Majdel Anjar to Awkar. He crossed several road checkpoints, it's suspicious," said the minister without giving further details.
The minister later retracted his statement, clarifying that the assailant had not been carrying “explosives,” but just “belongings” from Majdel Anjar to Awkar.
