Pierre Ashkar News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Four years into an economic meltdown, Lebanon's restaurants, cafes, hotels and shops face yet another challenge: keeping afloat during the Israel-Hamas war and related hostilities on the Lebanon-Israel border. Gaza-based Hamas fighters attacked southern Israel on October 7, triggering retaliatory Israeli bombing and a ground offensive in Gaza. Since then, Lebanon's southern border has seen deadly escalating skirmishes, mainly between Israel and Hamas ally Hezbollah.

Bartender Richard Alam has poured hardly any drinks at his pub in Lebanon's seaside city of Byblos, where once-busy streets have emptied of customers scared by border tensions during the Israel-Hamas war.

Bartender Richard Alam has poured hardly any drinks at his pub in Lebanon's seaside city of Byblos, where once-busy streets have emptied of customers scared by border tensions during the Israel-Hamas…

Bartender Richard Alam has poured hardly any drinks at his pub in Lebanons seaside city of Byblos, where once-busy streets have emptied of customers scared by border tensions during the Israel-Hamas war

In restaurants and bars across Beirut, normality seems to have returned to Lebanon this summer. However, the influx of cash flow from the Gulf, tourists, and the Lebanese diaspora fails to account for widening economic inequalities in the country.