New construction at US Embassy in Beirut sparks controversy

WORLD, May 08 (YPA) – New photos released by the US embassy in Beirut, show a new building under construction have sparked a debate about the purpose of having such a large building in a relatively small country like Lebanon.

The published photos showed the stage of the embassy construction in the Awkar area, 13 km north of the capital Beirut.

The new embassy has an area of about 90,000 square meters of roofed buildings and 120,000 square meters of open space. The project is being built by the US Department of State’s Office of Overseas Construction Operations (OBO).

The acceleration of construction in the huge embassy building in Awkar, has been widely debated on social media in Lebanon.

 Some welcomed the construction, while some others criticized and attacked it.  A large number of activists wondered why an embassy of this size was built in one of the smallest countries in the region and whether it was an “embassy or a military base” or even “a center for espionage to manage the Middle East.”

Others saw it as resembling secret US military positions in the Nevada desert.

 E.M