Shattered Beirut at the end of its tether
Blast could not have come at a worse time for bankrupt Lebanon
06 August 2020 - 15:57
Cairo — Even before the explosion ripped through his butcher’s shop on one of Beirut’s most fashionable streets, Tony Iyami was just about staying afloat.
A lockdown to control the coronavirus pandemic had hit business, compounding a banking crisis that has left most Lebanese unable to access their savings or borrow. The government is bankrupt, in talks with the IMF for a bailout and barely functioning. Then came Tuesday’s cataclysmic blast that erupted out of the capital’s port area, shattering all before it, killing at least 135 people and wounding thousands...
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