A gunman opened fire on the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon early Wednesday and was injured before being arrested, the Lebanese Army said. A security guard was wounded during the attack, according to the embassy.
The embassy did not say how the guard had been wounded or how seriously. Earlier, it had said that all its staff members were safe.
Lebanese security forces and the embassy’s security team responded to “small-arms fire” near the entrance of the fortified compound, which overlooks the Lebanese capital, Beirut, the embassy said in a statement.
The Lebanese Army said in a statement that a Syrian national had opened fire and that soldiers deployed in response to the gunfire had wounded the attacker, who was being treated at a hospital. A Lebanese security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing, said that the army had concluded a search of the area around the embassy and that initial information suggested the gunman had acted alone.
Local news media, citing witnesses, reported that there was a gunfight for almost half an hour before the attacker was shot and detained. Lebanon’s prime minister, Najib Mikati, said the situation was stable.
The embassy was also targeted in September, when a gunman fired on the compound. No one was injured in that episode, and a suspect was arrested.
In October, demonstrators protesting after a deadly explosion at Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza clashed with security forces when they attempted to reach the embassy.
The embassy moved from central Beirut to the suburb of Awkar, to the north, after a suicide bombing that killed 63 people in 1983. U.S. officials blamed that attack on the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which is now engaged in cross-border clashes with Israeli forces.
Hwaida Saad contributed reporting.
