Beirut
BeirutiStock

Lebanese security forces have detained a man suspected of being behind last week’s shooting outside the US embassy, police said Monday, according to The Associated Press.

The Internal Security Forces said in a statement that they have detained a Lebanese citizen born in 1997 in a suburb of Beirut. They identified the suspect only by the initials MK.

Authorities said the suspect confessed to carrying out the shooting. The weapon used has been confiscated and the suspect is being questioned.

US embassy spokesperson Jake Nelson said, “We are grateful for the speedy and thorough investigation by the local authorities."

No one was injured in the incident which occurred last Wednesday night near the entrance to the embassy compound in Awkar, a northern suburb of Beirut. No one claimed responsibility for the shooting and the motives behind it were not known.

Earlier this year marked the 40th anniversary of a deadly bombing attack on the US embassy in Beirut on April 18, 1983. US officials blame the attack, which killed 63 people, on the Hezbollah terrorist organization.

Following that attack, the embassy was moved from central Beirut to the Christian suburb of Awkar.

In recent years there have been no reported attacks on the embassy.

In November of 2013, two suicide bombers targeted the Iranian embassy in Beirut, including one who was identified as a “Palestinian with links to a militant Islamist preacher”.

In August, an assailant threw a Molotov cocktail at Sweden's embassy in Beirut, causing no casualties.

The attack on the embassy followed incidents of Quran burning in Sweden which caused an uproar in the Muslim world.