BEIRUT — The US Embassy in Lebanon came under an armed attack on Wednesday, amid growing tensions in the country as cross-border fighting between Hezbollah and the Israeli army continues to escalate.
The US Embassy located in the town of Awkar, north of Beirut in the Metn district, confirmed the attack.
“At 8:34 a.m. local time, small arms fire was reported in the vicinity of the entrance to the US Embassy,” it wrote on X. “Thanks to the quick reaction of the LAF [Lebanese Armed Forces], ISF [Internal Security Forces], and our Embassy security team, our facility and our team are safe.”
“Investigations are underway and we are in close contact with host country law enforcement,” the embassy added.
The Lebanese army said in a brief statement that its forces responded to the source of the fire and shot the assailant, whom it said is a Syrian national. The man was wounded and taken to a hospital.
The local LBCI channel, citing its own sources, said three assailants were behind the attack. One of the gunmen was shot dead, another was injured and arrested by the army, while search operations are ongoing for the third assailant who fled the scene.
According to local media, an embassy guard was wounded in the shooting attack.
Security incidents against the heavily fortified embassy compound in the Metn district have been rare in recent years, unlike during the Lebanese civil war (1975–1990), when extremist groups launched frequent attacks against US-related entities amid the deteriorating security condition and mounting sectarian tensions between Muslims and Christians.
Following a car bomb attack in April 1983 near the US Embassy, at the time located in West Beirut, killing 63 people, the United States relocated the embassy to Awkar, in the Christian-majority Metn district.
However, more incidents have taken place in the vicinity of the embassy in the past months amid rising regional tensions.
In October 2023, just a few days after the Israeli war in Gaza erupted, hundreds of angry protesters waving Palestinian flags headed toward the US embassy to observe a “day of rage,” which the Iran-backed Hezbollah group had called for in a show of solidarity with the Palestinians.
Clashes erupted at the time between the protesters and security forces, who used tear gas and water cannons to disperse the crowds.
In September 2023, security forces detained a Lebanese man who opened fire at the US Embassy. No casualties were reported back then, and it remains unclear if the attack was politically-motivated.
Hezbollah began firing rockets and drones at northern Israel one day after Hamas launched its surprise cross-border assault on southern Israel Oct. 7. The Iranian-backed group has said it was acting in solidarity with the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.
Since then, the cross-border hostilities have escalated with Hezbollah and the Israeli army striking deeper into their respective territories, raising fears of an all-out war in Lebanon.