US Declares Lebanon’s Detroit Consul Persona Non Grata

The United States declared Ibrahim Charara, Lebanon’s consul general in Detroit, persona non grata and ordered him to leave the country, according to reports citing notification to Lebanon’s embassy. The decision followed media reports about a 2021 social media post attributed to Charara that praised the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, which killed 241 U.S. service members. A source close to Charara said the post came from an old account that had been hacked years earlier. The same source said Charara’s presence beside Michigan politician Abdul El-Sayed at an Arab American organization’s dinner was incidental and that the two have no personal or political ties.