A gunman was captured after opening fire at the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon‘s capital, Beirut, on Wednesday — an attack that took place amid rising tensions on the country’s border with Israel, as the close U.S. ally signaled it could soon launch an offensive against Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.
The Lebanese army said its forces responded to the incident Wednesday morning, firing back at a suspect who was taken to a local hospital with injuries.
The U.S. embassy said “small arms fire” was reported just after 8:30 a.m. local time (1:30 a.m. ET.) It said its team was safe thanks to the “quick reaction” of Lebanese forces and the embassy’s security team.
The suspect’s identity and any possible motive were not immediately clear, with the Lebanese military describing them only as a Syrian national.
Lebanon, which borders Israel to the north, has suffered years of economic misery and political chaos.
Months of exchanges between Israel and Lebanon-based Hezbollah have taken place in parallel with the Israeli military’s monthslong offensive in Gaza, which was launched following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks.
Israeli military chief Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said Tuesday that troops were prepared to “move to an offensive in the north.”
“We are approaching a decision point,” he said in a recorded statement.
Pressure has intensified on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to act after rockets fired by the militant group set off wildfires in the country’s north this week.
Tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border have been evacuated from their homes for months, as tensions between Israel and Hezbollah plummeted to their worst point since a 2006 war.
The possibility of a new Israeli offensive in Lebanon has fueled concerns of a wider conflict, after eight months of war that local officials say has already killed more than 36,000 people in Gaza. Some 1,200 people were killed and around 250 others taken hostage in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks, according to Israeli officials, which marked a major escalation in the decadeslong conflict.
Some 120 people taken hostage are believed to remain held in Gaza, with about a third of those confirmed dead.
