Reuters:
BEIRUT, June 5 – A gunman fired shots at the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon on Wednesday and was wounded in an exchange of fire with troops, the Lebanese army said.
The army said the attacker, a Syrian national, was detained and taken to hospital for treatment and soldiers were searching through the area for other gunmen.
The U.S. Embassy said small arms fire was reported near its entrance in the morning. The facility and staff were safe, it added. U.S. ambassador Lisa Johnson is currently travelling outside Lebanon, according to diplomatic sources.
A Lebanese security source told Reuters that Lebanese troops wounded the gunman in the stomach.
The security source also said a member of the embassy’s security team was lightly wounded. An embassy spokesperson did not respond to a Reuters question on any injuries among the embassy guards.
Reuters verified pictures of the suspected attacker circulating online and geolocated them to near the embassy. Reuters verified part of the Arabic writing on his vest, which read “Islamic.” There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
A Reuters cameraman saw Lebanese security forces setting up checkpoints around the embassy as a U.S.-made helicopter provided to the Lebanese army circled above.
Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati said he was following up on the incident with the defence minister and security forces.
The U.S. Embassy lies north of Beirut in a highly secured zone with multiple checkpoints along the route to the entrance. It moved there from Beirut following a suicide attack in 1983 which killed more than 60 people.
