Violent protests erupt near US embassy in Beirut

Lebanese security forces have clashed with protesters near the US embassy in Beirut as the backlash over US President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital spreads throughout the Middle East.

Mr Trump’s announcement on Wednesday to overturn seven-decades of US policy on Jerusalem has drawn warnings across the Muslim world of potential damage to prospects for Middle East peace.

As Palestinian protests in Jerusalem entered their fourth day, a security guard was in critical condition after a 24-year-old Palestinian man from the occupied West Bank stabbed him after approaching a metal detector at an entrance to the city’s central bus station.

The alleged assailant was taken into custody after being tackled by a passer-by.

In Beirut, Lebanese security forces fired tear gas and water canons at protesters, some of them waving Palestinian flags, near the US embassy.

Demonstrators set fires in the street, torched US and Israeli flags and threw projectiles towards security forces that had barricaded the main road to the complex.

Read the report in The New Daily.