TRIPOLI, July 8: One person was killed and several were wounded on Thursday when a gunbattle erupted near the home of a Lebanese-born US marine who had been missing in Iraq.
Members of the family of Wassef Ali Hassoun, who arrived at the US embassy in Beirut on Thursday, traded fire with another family who taunted them by referring to Hassoun and his family as US agents.
Wassef Hassoun had been missing from his unit since June 21, and at one point was reported on a website to have been killed by militants holding him hostage. The area of northern Lebanon where Hassoun's family lives is a stronghold of deeply religious Muslims with strong clan ties. -Reuters
