A convoy of four United States embassy vehicles was attacked on Friday by angry residents in Lebanon in connection with a child-custody dispute between a Lebanese and his American wife, police said.
Men threw stones at the vehicles, which were on their way to the house of Nidal al-Maqhur in the northern city of Hermel, they said.
Soldiers immediately intervened to escort the vehicles, which had windows broken, out of the area, they said.
Police said Maqhur has a legal dispute with his wife over the custody of their two young children.
Security sources said there were no injuries among US embassy staff who ”returned to the embassy safely”.
An embassy source said that ”due to the US privacy act, the embassy cannot release particular details about specific cases. However, we can assure you that there was no political aspect in this visit.”
”It was simply a normal function of the American Citizen Services [which is part of the consular section in Lebanon],” the source said.
”Determining the welfare and whereabouts of US citizens is a normal function of the US embassy,” added the source.
About two years ago, two young Lebanese girls who also carry US citizenship ran away from their father’s home and sought refuge at the embassy for a short while before being whisked to live in the United States with their US mother. — Sapa-AFP