BEIRUT: An assailant threw a Molotov cocktail at Sweden’s embassy in Beirut, causing no casualties, Stockholm’s foreign minister and a diplomatic source said Thursday, amid anger over recent Qur'an desecrations.
“We confirm that there was a Molotov cocktail thrown at the facade of our embassy last evening, which did not explode,” a diplomatic source at the embassy said, requesting anonymity as they were not authorized to talk to the media.
The “perpetrator managed to run away,” the source added.
Tensions have flared between Sweden and Muslim countries following several protests involving public desecrations of the Qur'an in Stockholm — including setting pages alight.
Multi-confessional Lebanon saw protests at mosques, while the head of the powerful pro-Iran Shiite Muslim group Hezbollah has called for the Swedish ambassador to be expelled.
Lebanese security forces had bolstered measures around the embassy in downtown Beirut for fear of attacks.
Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said “it was sheer luck that no one was injured” in Wednesday’s attack and that staff were safe.
“The incident is currently being investigated,” he said in a statement on Thursday, noting that “Lebanese authorities have an obligation under the Vienna Convention to protect diplomatic missions.”
Late last month, two Iraqi men set a copy of the Qur'an alight outside the Swedish parliament in Stockholm, in an act similar to others in recent weeks that had drawn widespread condemnation.
Salwan Momika and Salwan Najem stomped on the Muslim holy book, set its pages ablaze before slamming it shut, as they did at a protest outside Stockholm’s main mosque in June.
The duo also staged a similar protest outside Iraq’s embassy in the Swedish capital on July 20, where they stomped on the religious text.
Iraqi protesters had stormed the Swedish embassy in Baghdad twice, starting fires within the compound on the second occasion.
Sweden embassy in Lebanon attacked amid Qur’an row, no casualties
https://arab.news/bnseu
Sweden embassy in Lebanon attacked amid Qur’an row, no casualties
- Multi-confessional Lebanon saw protests at mosques
Berlin says plans to host Sudan aid conference
- The conference would be held around the anniversary of the2023 outbreak of the civil war in April
- Previous Sudan aid conferences were held in Paris in 2024 and London in 2025
BERLIN: Germany plans to host a Sudan aid conference in the spring to raise emergency relief funds for the war-torn country, the foreign ministry said on Friday.
Brutal fighting between Sudanese government forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has devastated the country, with reports of atrocities, starvation and mass killings.
“Today, the world commemorates a sad date: 1,000 days of war in Sudan,” a foreign ministry spokeswoman said. “Far too many people continue to suffer and die there, victims of hunger, thirst, displacement and rape.”
The conference would be held around the anniversary of the 2023 outbreak of the civil war in April, the spokeswoman said.
Previous Sudan aid conferences were held in Paris in 2024 and London in 2025.
“The world’s largest humanitarian crisis has already driven millions of civilians into poverty and many tens of thousands to their deaths,” the spokeswoman said.
“Germany is doing everything in its power, both politically and in humanitarian terms, to help the people on the ground and to end the fighting.”
International calls for a ceasefire have so far failed to halt the fighting between Sudan’s army-aligned government and the RSF, which is descended from the Janjaweed militias accused of genocide in Darfur two decades ago.
Both sides have faced war crimes accusations over the course of the conflict.
