A man has been arrested following an overnight shooting near the US embassy in Lebanon, in Awkar, northeast of Beirut, Lebanese authorities say.
A Syrian citizen was injured after army members deployed in the area returned fire, the Lebanese army said on Wednesday, adding that the suspect was arrested and taken to a hospital for treatment. An investigation is underway, the military said.
In a post on
“Our facilities and equipment are safe. Investigations are ongoing and we are in close contact with host country authorities,” the embassy said.
Lebanon has been a flashpoint in the conflict between Israel and Gaza.
Since the start of the war, Lebanon has exchanged regular cross-border fire with Israel. More recently, fires broke out in northern Israel on Tuesday morning after the Lebanon-based Islamist group Hezbollah launched what it described as a “swarm of drones” at an Israeli military command center in the Galilee.
The low noise of the tit-for-tat exchanges has raised fears that Hezbollah could actively participate in the conflict on behalf of the Palestinians.
In October, the US State Department issued a travel warning for Americans not to visit Lebanon after the outbreak of war. The travel advisory has since been updated advising citizens to “reconsider travel” to Lebanon and continues to rule out travel to the country's south, the Syrian border and refugee settlements.
