A year on from the Beirut blast, Lebanon remains shattered in every respect
A year on from the explosion that devastated Beirut, much of Lebanon’s remaining political stability and the nation itself, the country remains almost as shattered as it was that day.
It was not some audacious act of terror that detonated some 2,750 tonnes of fertiliser stored unsafely in a dockside warehouse, but (if it can be expressed in this way) an outrageous act of neglect; in turn born of complacency and a badly debilitated state.
In the period since, no one has been brought to justice for what happened – the loss of 218 lives, thousands injured, homes and businesses destroyed, with around $15bn in damage to property. That, as well as the wasteland of the old port, stands as a monument to the dire state of Lebanon’s governance.
There must be few states in modern history that have so much wasted potential as Lebanon. Sadly, there have always been failed states and impoverished peoples, and countries divided by religion and race. However, there are not many parallels for a place that was once so prosperous and relatively stable to become so broken and hopeless.
After the Second World War and full indolence from France, Lebanon was – improbable as it may seem now – something of a playground for the “jet set”, with discreet Swiss-style financial services and with thriving ports servicing much of the Middle East. A finely balanced, cross-religion, power-sharing system bolstered one of the few democracies in the region.
Lebanon was both neutral and a buffer zone in the Arab-Israeli conflict. It was not to last, and Lebanon’s disparate communities – Shia and Sunni Muslims, Druze, Maronite and Greek Orthodox Christians and many others – could not remain aloof from the wider conflicts and rivalries across the region.
For most of the past half-century, and certainly since the 16year-long vicious civil war began in 1975, Lebanon has been either at war with itself, invaded or in political crisis.
Now it is Covid-19 and the effects of financial and economic collapse. The Lebanese pound has dropped substantially on the foreign exchanges, inflation has topped 50 per cent, there are power cuts and shortages of essentials, and rising unemployment.
A small nation still recovering from the destruction of a large slice of its capital city cannot cope with the 1.5 million refugees from the conflict in Syria. Money for aid and rebuilding is available; but it’s useless without a functioning and honest government and functioning bureaucracy.
Indeed, under a plan sponsored by France, those are the necessary conditions for a formal release of assistance, but it seems not to be incentive enough for the parties to get their act together. Najib Mikati – a billionaire who has twice served as premier before – has won the confidence of the Lebanese parliament to form a government. He is also being backed by Hezbollah and the former premier Saad Hariki – but has so far not found much success.
The agony of Lebanon is far from over.
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