US declares Lebanese consul in Michigan persona non grata over pro-Hezbollah posts
The U.S. State Department has declared the Lebanese consul in Michigan persona non grata over social media posts attributed to him praising Hezbollah's 1983 attack on the U.S. Marines in Beirut.
The attack killed 241 American service members and the social media posts were unearthed by the Washington Free Beacon news portal.
Ibrahim Charara serves as Lebanon's consul general in Detroit, an important role since there is a large Lebanese population in the Detroit area. He wrote on Nov. 23, 2021, the anniversary of the barracks bombing, that the "heroic resistance" ended "American military occupation" of Lebanon with a "single strike."
The Iran-backed Hezbollah is believed to have been behind the attack, in which two suicide bombers killed 241 Marines, 58 French soldiers, and 6 civilians at military facilities in Beirut.
"From the Marines barracks in Beirut to the Al-Tanf base... we will reject the occupier and defeat him," Charara wrote, a reference to a purported Iran and Hezbollah drone attack on American soldiers at Al-Tanf base in Syria in 2021.
Source: Naharnet
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