Ambassador: US Embassy in Lebanon ‘Not Intimidated’ by Shots Fired Towards it

Dorothy Shea, US ambassador to Lebanon, meets with Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, in Beirut, Lebanon, in this handout released on September 22, 2023. (Dalati & Nohra)
Dorothy Shea, US ambassador to Lebanon, meets with Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, in Beirut, Lebanon, in this handout released on September 22, 2023. (Dalati & Nohra)
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Ambassador: US Embassy in Lebanon ‘Not Intimidated’ by Shots Fired Towards it

Dorothy Shea, US ambassador to Lebanon, meets with Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, in Beirut, Lebanon, in this handout released on September 22, 2023. (Dalati & Nohra)
Dorothy Shea, US ambassador to Lebanon, meets with Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, in Beirut, Lebanon, in this handout released on September 22, 2023. (Dalati & Nohra)

US Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea on Friday said the embassy was "not intimidated" by a gunman's shots towards its entrance earlier this week and that Lebanese authorities were investigating the incident.

Late Wednesday, shots were fired near the US embassy north of Beirut. Embassy spokesperson Jake Nelson said no one had been hurt and normal business operations were ongoing.

"We know that authorities are investigating this incident, whereby a gunman fired shots toward the US embassy the other night," Shea said on Friday after meeting Lebanon's caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati.

"Please know that we at the US embassy are not intimidated by this incident, and our security protocols are very strong and our partnerships are ironclad," she said.

Mikati also condemned what he described as an "attack on the American embassy". There was no claim of responsibility for the gunfire and authorities have not provided details on the investigation.

The highly secured US embassy lies north of Beirut in the town of Awkar. Security incidents around it are rare. The embassy moved there from Beirut following a suicide attack in 1983 which killed more than 60 people.



Israeli Strike in Syria Kills 5 Soldiers

People fleeing from Lebanon arrive on the Syrian side of the border with Lebanon in Jdeidat Yabus in southwestern Syria on September 25, 2024. (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA / AFP)
People fleeing from Lebanon arrive on the Syrian side of the border with Lebanon in Jdeidat Yabus in southwestern Syria on September 25, 2024. (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA / AFP)
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Israeli Strike in Syria Kills 5 Soldiers

People fleeing from Lebanon arrive on the Syrian side of the border with Lebanon in Jdeidat Yabus in southwestern Syria on September 25, 2024. (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA / AFP)
People fleeing from Lebanon arrive on the Syrian side of the border with Lebanon in Jdeidat Yabus in southwestern Syria on September 25, 2024. (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA / AFP)

An overnight Israeli airstrike on a military site in the area of Kfar Yabous in Syria near the border with Lebanon killed five Syrian army soldiers and injured another, Syrian state news agency SANA reported Friday, citing an unnamed military official.

Israel's military did not immediately acknowledge the strike. Israel regularly targets military sites in Syria and facilities linked to Iran and the Lebanon’s Hezbollah but rarely acknowledges them.

Those strikes have become more frequent as Hezbollah has exchanged fire with Israeli forces for the past 11 months against the backdrop of Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Tens of thousands of Lebanese and Syrians have fled across the border from Lebanon into Syria since the beginning of the week amid intense Israeli bombardment that Israel says is targeting Hezbollah fighters and weapons. The strikes have killed an estimated 700 people to date, including at least 150 women and children.