[Published here on December 28, 2021]
The decline had been steep and painful already. By the time Lebanon entered 2021, thousands had already lost their jobs, around half the population had been plunged into poverty, and the explosion at the Beirut port the previous year had stolen lives, limbs, and homes.
But this year, Lebanon simply began to come apart at the seams.
Continue reading[Published here on December 16, 2021]
What could bring Syrian refugees, Sudanese migrants and marginalised Lebanese around the same table in Beirut? The threat of eviction – and the housing rights project trying to prevent it.
Continue reading[Published here December 16, 2021]
Lebanon has for the first time eased restrictions on thousands of undocumented workers – but advocates say the long-awaited move fails to protect a community that struggles to survive even on the outer margins of life.
Continue reading[Published here November 2021]
TRIPOLI, Nov 10 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – After patiently waiting in line, Umm Mustafa extended two grubby plastic containers to a soup kitchen volunteer, who ladled in rice and stewed greens. It would be the only meal the unemployed single mother and her three sons would eat that day.
Continue reading[Published here October 22, 2021]
His motorbike’s tank almost empty, Ahmad had barely enough fuel to make one more delivery and get home for the night. When the 24-year-old Syrian’s phone pinged with a food order in a distant suburb of the Lebanese capital Beirut, his heart sank.
Continue reading[Produced with my colleague Timour Azhari and published here on October 5, 2021]
Livestreams of politicians being harangued at restaurants and screenshots of bankers’ addresses: frustrated by the lack of accountability for their country’s collapse, Lebanon’s digital activists are doling out their own form of virtual justice.
Continue reading[Published here September 7, 2021]
Ibrahim al-Masri wipes sweat from his brow as he queues behind two dozen other cars outside a Beirut gas station. It could take hours to replenish his depleted tank – but with no spare cash to bribe the pump attendant, all he can do is wait.
As Lebanon’s deepening economic crisis causes shortages of basic goods including fuel, medicine and even bread, a privileged few are finding ways to beat the queues and rationing by wielding personal connections, or wads of banknotes.
Continue reading[Published here August 26, 2021]
Without electricity for air conditioning or fuel to reach the beach, two comedians are keeping cool in crisis-hit Lebanon by splashing around in an inflatable pool – in their living room.
“When the generator comes on, we’ll crank up the light to get a tan,” one of the women quips, part of a new wave of Lebanese opting to laugh in the face of disaster.
Continue reading[Published here August 20, 2021]
Frequent power outages in Lebanon caused by a shortage of fuel are spilling into every aspect of life: empty bakeries; hospitals pushed to crisis point; family businesses struggling to survive.
With both government power grids and privately-run generators faltering, here’s what you need to know about the power crisis hitting Lebanon amid a financial meltdown.
Continue reading[Published here on June 25, 2021]
BEIRUT, June 25 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Syrian refugee girls are increasingly at risk of child marriage due to a surge in pandemic-linked poverty, legal loopholes and long-term displacement in countries across the Middle East and North Africa, charity Save the Children said on Friday.
Continue reading
MAYA GEBEILY 