Washington declares Lebanon's Detroit consul Ibrahim Sharara persona non grata

The U.S. State Department declared Ibrahim Sharara, Lebanon's consul general in Detroit, persona non grata over old posts in which he praised the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut.

The U.S. State Department on Saturday declared Ibrahim Sharara, Lebanon's consul general in Detroit, Michigan, persona non grata over old posts in which he praised the attack on the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983.

The Washington Free Beacon had uncovered the posts, including one marking the anniversary of the bombing in which Sharara described the attack as an act of “heroic resistance” that ended the “U.S. military occupation” of Lebanon “with one blow.” In another post, he wrote: “From the Marine barracks in Beirut to Al-Tanf base... we will reject the occupier and defeat him.”

جنود من مشاة البحرية الأمريكية خلال إحياء الذكرى الـ43 لتفجير مقر المارينز في بيروت

On October 23, 1983, a suicide bomber drove an explosives-laden truck into the Marine barracks in Beirut, killing 241 U.S. service members. Minutes later, a second blast targeted the French forces' barracks, killing 58 French paratroopers and six Lebanese civilians. The U.S. State Department attributed the attack to Hezbollah in a statement marking its 40th anniversary in 2023.

The consul general's post in Detroit is particularly significant because the area is home to one of the largest Lebanese communities in the United States. Under Article 23 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, the receiving state may at any time notify the sending state that one of its consular officers is persona non grata, without being required to explain its decision.