Inside new $1,000,000,000 mega fortress US embassy 10 times bigger than London's | News World | Metro News

Inside new $1,000,000,000 mega fortress US embassy 10 times bigger than London's | News World | Metro News

Inside new $1,000,000,000 mega fortress US embassy 10 times bigger than London’s

Gergana KrastevaForeign Correspondent
Published January 20, 2025 1:30pm Updated January 20, 2025 1:30pmComments

The new complex is being built 10 miles northeast of Beirut’s historic core (Picture: @usembassybeirut/x)

America is building a mega fortress. Just like food portions in the ‘Land of Plenty,’ it is supersised – the only difference is that it is costing the US taxpayers $1 billion.

Overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, the new US Embassy in Lebanon will be the second largest in the world, after the one they have in Iraq.

Located in the suburb of Awkar, around 10 miles from the centre of Beirut, it is built next to the site of the current embassy.

The compound, which has been under construction since 2017, looks more like a city of its own.


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It is larger than any government facility in Lebanon and is expected to house 5,000 staff (Picture: @usembassybeirut/x)
Construction began seven years ago, in 2017, and is expected to be finished by 2026 (Picture: @usembassybeirut/x)

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Sprawling over a 43-acre site, the complex is larger than any government facility in Lebanon.


For context, it is about 10 times the size of the one in Nine Elms, London, almost two-and-a-half times the size of the land the White House is built on and almost double the Pentagon size.

No specific reason has been offered for building such a megastructure in Lebanon – and about 60 miles from the Lebanese border with Israel.

According to the State Department’s website, the ‘primary purpose’ of any US Embassy is to ‘assist American citizens’ in a host country.
A 3D image showing what the access to the main campus would look like (Picture: @usembassybeirut/x)
The complex is 10 times larger than the US Embassy in London (Picture: @usembassybeirut/x)

Questions have been asked, however, about why the US government is spending as much $1 billion on a new embassy complex in a country with only around 86,000 US citizens.

Territory-wise, Lebanon is smaller than 4,036 square miles. To put this in perspective, it is smaller than Yorkshire.

The Middle Eastern country is also home to only six million people and is currently being rebuilt after months of Israeli bombardments and an on-the-ground invasion.

Former British Ambassador to Uzbekistan Craig Murray stressed that this is ‘not an embassy, but something 50 times bigger’ and speculated about its real purpose.
It is located about 60 miles from the Lebanon-Israel border (Picture: @usembassybeirut/x)

In an interview with Leila Hatoum, MENA Uncensored editor-in-chief, he said: ‘This is plainly something else. What is it? Why is it so big?’

The Lebanese journalist claimed the compound could be used for ‘logistics and torture’ and to support ‘their espionage’ in the region.