Lebanon is suffering from the worst economic crisis in its modern history. Seven or eight bank employees were taken hostage along with two customers, George al-Haj, head of the Bank Employees Syndicate, told local media. Lebanese soldiers, officers from the country’s Internal Security Forces and intelligence agents converged on the area during the standoff.
Some bystanders hailed him as a hero.Īuthorities said Hussein entered the bank with a shotgun and a canister of gasoline, fired three warning shots and locked himself in with his hostages, threatening to set himself on fire unless he was allowed to take out his money. The country’s cash-strapped banks since 2019 have slapped strict limits on withdrawals of foreign currency assets, tying up the savings of millions of people.ĭozens of protesters gathered outside during the standoff, chanting slogans against the Lebanese government and banks and hoping that the gunman would get his money. The hostage drama in the city’s bustling Hamra district was the latest painful episode in Lebanon’s economic free-fall, now in its third year. Hussein’s wife, Mariam Chehadi, who was standing outside, told reporters that her husband “did what he had to do.”
BEIRUT (AP) - A gunman demanding a Beirut bank let him withdraw his trapped savings to pay his father’s medical bills took up to 10 people hostage in a seven-hour standoff Thursday before surrendering in exchange for what a family lawyer said was $35,000 of his money.īassam al-Sheikh Hussein, a 42-year-old food-delivery driver, was promptly arrested and taken away by police as he walked out of the bank.
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