US declares Lebanese diplomat persona non grata after post praising Hezbollah's 1983 bombing

The US State Department declared Lebanon's consul-general in Detroit, Ibrahim Sharara, persona non grata over a 2021 social media post praising Hezbollah's 1983 bombing of the US Marine barracks in Beirut that killed 241 American service members. Sharara has been ordered to leave the US and is expected to return to Lebanon on Sunday. A source close to Sharara claimed the post was from a hacked account.

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 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 after the conservative news outlet Washington Free Beacon published a 2021 post in which Sharara allegedly praised the attack, stating that 'the heroic resistance ended the American military occupation of Lebanon in a single blow.' 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 was elected to the US Senate from Michigan this week, saying the two happened to be seated next to each other at an annual dinner and have no personal or political ties. Lebanese media reported that the Lebanese Embassy in Washington had received formal notification of the Trump administration's decision.