BEIRUT — A hostage standoff in which a gunman demanded a Beirut bank allow him to withdraw his trapped savings so he could pay his father’s medical bills ended seven hours later with the man surrendering Thursday. No injuries were reported.
Authorities said Bassam al-Sheikh Hussein, 42, entered the bank branch with a shotgun and a can of gasoline, fired three warning shots and barricaded himself in with up to 10 hostages, threatening- he would set himself on fire if he wasn’t allowed to. withdraw your money.
After hours of negotiations, he accepted an offer from the bank to receive part of his savings, according to local media and a group of depositors who participated in the talks. He then freed his hostages and was taken away by the police as he left the bank.
He didn’t actually get any of the money, according to a lawyer involved in the negotiations.
His wife, Mariam Chehadi, who was outside, told reporters after his arrest that her husband “did what he had to do.”
The hostage drama in the city’s bustling Hamra district was the latest painful episode in Lebanon’s economic freefall, now in its third year. The cash-strapped country’s banks have since 2019 placed strict limits on the withdrawal of foreign currency assets, tying up the savings of millions.
George al-Haj, head of the Bank Employees Union, told local media that seven or eight bank employees were taken hostage along with two customers.
Hussein had $210,000 stuck in the bank and was struggling to withdraw his money to pay his father’s medical bills, said Hassan Moghnieh, who as head of the Lebanon Depositors Association advocacy group was involved in the negotiations .
Hussein’s brother Atef, who was outside the bank, told The Associated Press during the standoff that his brother would be willing to turn himself in if the bank gave him money to help with bills and other family expenses.
“My brother is not a scoundrel. He is a decent man,” said Atef al-Sheikh Hussein. “He takes what he has out of his pocket to give to others.”
Lebanese army soldiers, police from the country’s Internal Security Forces and intelligence agents surrounded the area.
Dozens of protesters gathered during the standoff, chanting slogans against the Lebanese government and banks, hoping the gunman would receive his savings. Some viewers hailed him as a hero.
Lebanon is suffering from the worst economic crisis in its modern history. Three-quarters of the population has fallen into poverty and the Lebanese pound has depreciated by more than 90% against the US dollar.
“What brought us to this situation is the failure of the State to solve this economic crisis and the actions of the banks and the Central Bank, where people can only recover part of their own money as if it were a subsidy weekly,” said Dina Abou Zor, a lawyer. with the defense group Depositors’ Union which was among the demonstrators. “And that has caused people to take matters into their own hands.”
In January, a coffee shop owner withdrew $50,000 trapped in a bank in Lebanon after taking employees hostage and threatening to kill them.