Lebanon's consul general in Detroit, Ibrahim Charara, has been ordered to leave the United States after the State Department declared him persona non grata over social media posts that appeared to praise the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, an attack that killed 241 American service members. A source close to Charara says the posts were not his — that his old account had been hacked seven years earlier and someone else wrote them.
State Department Cites Posts Praising 1983 Attack
According to MLive, a State Department spokesperson confirmed that the Lebanese consul in Detroit has been designated persona non grata, saying that people in the United States who celebrate or justify terrorist attacks have no place in the country. MLive reporter Fuad Shalhout reported that Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered Charara's removal, a detail also reported by Arab News on Nov. 7. The State Department said it regularly reviews information about foreign diplomats serving in the United States, including potential national security concerns, and that it takes appropriate action consistent with U.S. law and international obligations, per MLive's reporting.
At the center of the case are social media posts attributed to Charara from 2021 that described the barracks bombing as an act of heroic resistance against American military involvement in Lebanon. The Washington Free Beacon reported one version of the post read: “the heroic resistance to the American military occupation of Beirut ended with a single strike.” The 1983 bombing, which occurred during Lebanon's civil war, killed 220 Marines along with sailors and soldiers, and has been attributed to Hezbollah, according to the U.S. Department of State.
Diplomat Denies Writing the Posts
The authenticity of the posts remains disputed. A source close to Charara told L'Orient Today that his former social media account had been hacked seven years earlier and that he did not write the posts in question. L'Orient Today reported he was declared persona non grata by the State Department on a Friday and, per the same source, was given until 8 a.m. Sunday to leave the country.
Other outlets describe the timeline differently. Lebanese Foreign Ministry sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Charara was ordered to leave the United States within 48 hours, while Mediaite, citing the Washington Free Beacon, reported he was ordered to leave immediately and return to Lebanon. The outlets also differ on when the disputed posts were published: L'Orient Today dated them Oct. 21 and 23, 2021, while Mediaite reported Oct. 20 and 23, 2021.
Consulate Acknowledges Inquiry, No Statement Yet
MLive reported that it reached out to the Lebanese consulate in Detroit for comment on Monday. A representative there acknowledged the inquiry and requested a phone number for follow-up, but had not provided a statement by the time of publication. Whether Charara had actually left the United States was not immediately clear, per MLive.
Charara was appointed Lebanon's consul general in Detroit in September 2025, according to Arab News, and had attended cultural and political events throughout metro Detroit, home to one of the nation's largest Arab American communities, per MLive's reporting. His removal comes amid what MLive described as an increase under the Trump administration in reviewing social media posts by foreigners seeking to enter or stay in the United States — a practice The National reports has been criticized as lacking context and sometimes being subjective.
How Persona Non Grata Declarations Work
Under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, a receiving state may notify the sending state that a consular officer is persona non grata and require that the officer be recalled or stripped of consular functions, according to the treaty text maintained by the United Nations. The convention includes provisions concerning consular officers declared persona non grata.
Russian diplomats have been expelled in recent years.
