Hundreds of angry protesters clashed Wednesday with Lebanese security forces in a Beirut suburb near the U.S. Embassy in support of both Gaza’s civilian residents and Hamas in its war with Israel.
The protest in the Aukar neighborhood came as U.S. President Joe Biden made a show of solidarity with Israel during his visit there Wednesday, a day after an explosion at a Gaza Strip hospital killed at least 500 people and prompted mass protests.
Biden offered his assessment that the explosion was not the result of a strike by the Israeli military.
Demonstrators holding Palestinian flags and the flags of various Palestinian factions took down a security wall and cut a barbed wire barrier on a winding road that leads to the U.S. Embassy outside of Beirut.
Meanwhile, in a southern suburb of Beirut, the Hezbollah group, a key ally of Hamas, held its own rally Wednesday. Thousands of Hezbollah supporters and Palestinians waving Palestinian flags protested against the explosion at the Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza the day before.
“The time has perhaps come for the peoples of the region to declare their word in the face of American tyranny,” senior Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine said in a speech at the rally.
Chanting “death to America,” protesters burned an American flag in solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza, where the violence has left more than 3,000 people dead since Hamas militants launched a surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7, leaving more than 1,000 people dead or kidnapped.
Hezbollah and Israel have clashed along the Lebanon-Israel border, though the skirmishes remain mostly contained along a handful of border towns. The militant group announced another death among its ranks Wednesday, its 11th since the conflict began.
Israel has threatened to aggressively retaliate should Hezbollah escalate, while Hezbollah has promised to do the same should Israel decide to launch a ground incursion into Gaza.
As the clashes continue, Saudi Arabia became the latest country to ask its citizens to leave the tiny Mediterranean country of Lebanon. The U.S. State Department warned its citizens not to come and urged those in the country to “make appropriate arrangements to leave,” while commercial flights are still available.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Lebanese Red Cross collected the bodies and remains of four slain Hezbollah militants, a spokesperson for the group told The Associated Press.
