BEIRUT (Reuters) – U.S. 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 U.S. 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 U.S. embassy the other night,” U.S. ambassador Dorothy Shea said on Friday after meeting Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati.
“Please know that we at the U.S. 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 U.S. 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.
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(Reporting by Maya Gebeily; Editing by Alex Richardson)