Lebanon charges US Embassy gunman with affiliation to Islamic State

Part of the US Embassy compound in Aukar, a northern suburb of Beirut (Bilal Hussein/AP)

A judge at Lebanon’s military court on Tuesday charged the gunman who opened fire at the US embassy near Beirut with being affiliated to the militant Islamic State group, security and judicial officials said.

Lebanese soldiers shot and arrested the gunman in early June, later identified as Kaiss Farraj from Syria, after a shootout that lasted almost 30 minutes and injured an embassy security guard.