A U.S. diplomat apologized Thursday for using the word “animalistic” while urging reporters to quiet down during a news conference in Lebanon earlier this week.
Tom Barrack, U.S. ambassador to Türkiye and envoy to Syria, who was temporarily assigned to Lebanon, said he did not intend the word to be derogatory but acknowledged his remarks were “inappropriate.”
Barrack visited Beirut Tuesday with a delegation of U.S. officials to discuss Lebanese government efforts to disarm the Hezbollah group and to monitor the implementation of the cease-fire agreement that ended the latest Israel-Hezbollah conflict in November.
The comment came at the start of a news conference at the presidential palace, when journalists shouted at Barrack to move to the podium after he began speaking from another spot in the room.
Once at the podium, Barrack urged reporters to “act civilized, act kind, act tolerant,” warning that he might cut the conference short.
