Lebanese army soldiers deploy near the U.S. Embassy in Beirut after a Syrian man was arrested following a shooting near the embassy on June 5, 2024. (Credit: Joseph Eid/AFP)
BEIRUT — Three people arrested in connection with Wednesday's shooting attack on the U.S. Embassy in Awkar (Metn district) have been released, a Lebanese Army source confirmed to L'Orient Today on Sunday. Two of the three individuals are from the town of Souairi, near Majdal Anjar, in the Bekaa district, the source also confirmed.
On Saturday, a former mayor of Majdal Anjar, Said Yassin, said 42 people had been arrested in the investigation into the attack, while the mufti of Zahle and Western Bekaa issued a statement saying "more than 40" arrests had been made. However, the Lebanese Army source that L'Orient Today spoke to on Sunday declined to specify the number of arrests made, adding that there is no new information yet available on the case.
A separate security source told L'Orient Today that some of the individuals arrested in raids following the attack were wanted for other reasons and were not specifically detained in connection with Wednesday's U.S. Embassy incident.
A number of gunmen opened fire on the embassy on Wednesday morning, lightly injuring one person inside the complex. At the time of the attack, the Lebanese Army released a statement saying a person of Syrian nationality responsible for the shooting had been "wounded" by the army when it "responded to the sources of the fire." The person was subsequently arrested and taken to hospital for treatment.
When asked by a reporter during a press conference in Washington about the identity of the wounded shooter, U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said, "We know that the individual who was arrested was wearing what appears to be insignia of the Islamic State, but we are conducting a thorough investigation with Lebanese authorities."
