Clashes erupt outside US embassy in Beirut

Violent clashes erupted outside the U.S. Embassy in Beirut on Sunday during a protest against U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to officially recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Demonstrators burnt tyres and U.S. and Israeli flags as they pushed to break through a barbed wire erected by security forces around the embassy complex, according to an Anadolu Agency reporter.

Security forces fired teargas and water cannon to disperse the angry protesters, who tried to remove the wire.

A number of protesters were detained in the rally.

“This demonstration is not limited to a certain party or sect,” Hamas leader Ahmet al-Hut told Anadolu Agency. “This is a national rally joined by every Christian and Muslim who believes that Jerusalem is the eternal capital of Palestine,” he said.

Secretary-General of the Lebanese Communist Party, Hanna Gharib, described Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital as a “liquidation of the Palestinian cause” and would expose the Palestinian people to “new waves of displacement”.

In a statement, Gharib called on Arab countries to “stop all cooperation programs with the U.S. and expel its ambassadors.”

On Wednesday, Trump announced U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and said the U.S. Embassy would be relocated from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

The dramatic shift in Washington’s Jerusalem policy triggered demonstrations in the occupied Palestinian territories and several Muslim countries.

Jerusalem remains at the heart of the Israel-Palestine conflict, with Palestinians hoping that East Jerusalem -- now occupied by Israel -- might eventually serve as the capital of a future Palestinian state.