TheUS State Departmenthas declared Lebanon's consul-general in Detroit, Ibrahim Sharara, persona non grata over social media posts attributed to him that praised Hezbollah's 1983 bombing of the US Marine barracks in Beirut, which killed 241 American service members.
Sharara has been ordered to leave the United States and is expected to return to Lebanon on Sunday.
The controversy emerged earlier this week after the conservative news outletWashington Free Beaconpublished a social media post from 2021 in which Sharara allegedly praised the attack, stating that “the heroic resistance ended the American military occupation ofLebanonin a single blow.”
However, a source close to Sharara told Lebanese broadcaster LBCI that the post had been published from an old social media account that was hacked several years ago.
The source also addressed a photograph showing Sharara alongside Abdul El-Sayed, who waselected to the US Senate from Michigan this week.
According to the source, the two happened to be seated next to each other at an annual dinner hosted by an Arab American organization and have no personal or political ties.
Lebanese media reported that the Lebanese Embassy in Washington had received formal notification of theTrump administration's decision.
US to deport Lebanon's Detroit consul-general over terror support - The Jerusalem Post
The US State Department has declared Lebanon's consul-general in Detroit, Ibrahim Sharara, persona non grata over social media posts attributed to him that praised the 1983 bombing of the US Marine barracks in Beirut. A source close to Sharara says the post came from an old account that was hacked years ago.
Cross Lines newsroom
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Original source: أخبار لبنان
