CHICAGO: Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Saturday ordered the deportation of Lebanon’s Consul General in Detroit, Michigan, Ibrahim Charara, over a controversial social media comment he posted in 2021 praising the killing of American Marines in 1983, a US Department of State spokesman told Arab News Sunday.

The US State Department spokesperson confirmed Charara has been designated “persona non grata” as a consequence of the alleged post, in which he reportedly wrote the attack on  US Marine Barracks in Beirut a “heroic resistance” that ended the “American military occupation.”

“The Department continuously reviews information about foreign mission members accredited to the United States, including any national security concerns, and takes appropriate action consistent with US law and international obligations,” the State Department said in a statement to Arab News. 

“Terrorists murdered Americans and our colleagues in the bombings of the US Embassy compounds in Beirut in 1983 and 1984. We will never forget them. The Lebanese Consul in Detroit has been designated persona non grata. A visa is a privilege not a right. Anyone in the United States who celebrates or justifies terrorist attacks has no place in our country.”

The social media post, cited by several media outlets, but no longer available on X reads: “On this day, the heroic resistance to the American military occupation of Beirut ended with a single strike that documents the defeat of neocolonialism on our land.”

The post is attributed to Charara’s Twitter account when he served as Lebanese Minister of Foreign Affairs to Egypt in 2021 under the social media handle, “@IbrahimChararaa”, an account that has been dormant since November 2021.

The 1983 Beirut barracks bombing, attributed to Hezbollah, occurred on October 23, 1983, during the Lebanese Civil War, when suicide bombers drove explosive-laden trucks into compounds housing multinational peacekeeping forces in Beirut, Lebanon killing 241 American servicemen, including 220 Marines, and injuring more than 100 others.

Charara was named Lebanon Consul General on Sept. 25, 2025. Previously, he served in the Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants since June 2016. 

He has appeared at nearly all of the many Arab American events hosted in the Greater Detroit Region, including cultural and political events. Republicans and pro-Israeli activists have been citing Charara’s appearance at a rally for Senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed. 

The deportation of diplomats by the United States, or other governments, is not unusual. Dozens of diplomats, mostly representing Russia and Iran, have been deported during the past five years. They include 14 Russians in 2022 and 2023, one from South Africa in 2025, and three from Iran.