✍Groundbreaking for the new US embassy compound in Awkar: $1 billion on 43 acres

On 20 April 2017 the ambassador Elizabeth Richard laid the foundation stone of the new American embassy compound in Awkar, on some 43 acres and at a cost of about a billion dollars, comprising the mission's headquarters, staff housing and the Marine guard quarters, in the "fortress embassy" design born of the Beirut bombings of 1983–1984; one of the largest American embassies in the world relative to the size of the country, with work still under way in 2023.

Note: The size of the compound relative to the country and its fortification, under a state unable to protect its own institutions, reflect the imbalance of the relationship and entrench the image of the embassy as a parallel centre of decision in the eyes of part of the Lebanese.