As in any other country now under lockdown during the covid-19 outbreak, things were quiet in Lebanon.

For weeks, social media feeds were full of photos of clear Beirut skylines without the regular unpleasant smog and beautiful migratory birds on the country’s coast and valleys. It was so quiet, you wouldn’t think that the country had been rocked by months of protests and riots because of a damning economic crisis — or that these tensions were on the verge of erupting yet again.

Yet that is precisely what happened this week, as unrest began to erupt across the country. The novel coronavirus pandemic and the ensuing economic fallout have only exacerbated the conditions that have driven Lebanese to the streets since last October, resulting in the resignation of then-Prime Minister Saad Hariri and the appointment of Hassan Diab as his successor.…  Seguir leyendo »