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Reuters
Bassam Al-Sheikh Hussein, 42, entered a branch of the Federal Bank of Lebanon in Hamra district of West Beirut with a firearm just before noon on Thursday, security sources told Reuters. Told.
“He requested access to about $200,000 in his bank account. pulled out a gun," the source said.
Six hours after the bank agreed to give the man about $30,000, the hostage crisis was over, his sister and the president of the local banking association said. told the media. It was not immediately clear whether the terms of the settlement included criminal charges.
Some bank customers managed to escape before he could close the door on others, sources said.
At least he said one elderly man was released from the bank because of his age and government negotiators were sent to open negotiations with the man who took the hostage, the Interior Ministry said. said.
His six remaining hostages consisted of one customer and five bank employees, including bank manager Hassan Halawi, who spoke to Reuters by phone inside the branch.
"I'm in the office. He [the hostage taker] gets upset, then he calms down and then gets upset again," Halawi said by phone before his release.
Lebanese media station Al-Jadeed said at least two shots were fired at him. The Lebanese Red Cross told Reuters it had deployed an ambulance to the scene.
During the hostage crisis, a crowd gathered outside the bank, many chanting "Overthrow bank rules!"
Since the outbreak of Lebanon's financial crisis in 2019, Lebanese banks have restricted foreign currency withdrawals for most depositors during the country's three-year financial collapse, More than three-quarters of the population suffers.
Banks say they make exceptions for humanitarian cases, including hospital care, but depositors and their representatives have told Reuters that such exceptions will be implemented. He says it is rare. (Reporting by Issam Abdallah, Laila Bassam, Maya Gebeily; Editing by Mark Porter, Mike Harrison, Josie Kao)