BEIRUT: Rafi Tabakian’s clothing store in a Beirut suburb is usually buzzing with customers during the holiday season, but with Lebanon’s economy in ruins, shoppers are in short supply.
“We’ve been in business for 30 years, and I’ve never seen anything like this,” he said, adding that sales have dropped 80 percent in December even though he has cut his prices.
“Now we see customers entering, asking for the price, and then leaving. It’s scary,” Tabakian, who produces and sells clothes in the densely populated, commercial Burj Hammoud neighborhood of the capital, said.
Lebanon is suffering its worst economic crisis, rooted in decades of state corruption and waste, since the 1975-1990 civil war, leaving streets dimmer and shopping centers emptier, with many stores and restaurants void of customers.
The economic woes have sparked huge protests against the ruling elite, banks are imposing capital controls, pressure has piled on the pegged Lebanese pound, and a hard currency crunch has pushed importers to hike prices.
Hotel bookings, flights and events have plunged during what is usually a busy commercial season for Lebanon, which has the Arab world’s biggest proportion of Christians.
Many from Lebanon’s large diaspora normally return home to streets packed with cars and decked out with lights.
But Pierre Ashkar, the head of Lebanon’s hotel association, said December bookings have plummeted from a usual 65-75 percent occupancy to 7-15 percent this year.
“Hotels have closed some parts of their buildings, are giving employees unpaid leave and removing services such as free shuttle transportation to the airport to minimize losses.”
Some local councils have opted to either re-use old decorations or do without.
“We put up last year’s decorations, without adding anything because these are exceptional circumstances,” said Raymond Atieh, head of the Jdeideh municipality, north of Beirut.
“The holidays are coming, but they’re coming with a pinch. People are angry ... People are getting fired, paid half-salaries, or not working,” Atieh added.
Charbel Daccache, a priest in Mount Lebanon’s largely Christian town of Adma, said it was better to help feed the poor in tough times “than to decorate and throw glitter.”
“Some days are harsh; others are better but it’s not the end. That’s why I tell people, let it be a joyous time.”
Christmas in Lebanon not so merry as economic crisis bites
https://arab.news/m5ujx
Christmas in Lebanon not so merry as economic crisis bites
- Lebanon is suffering its worst economic crisis, rooted in decades of state corruption and waste
- The economic woes have sparked huge protests against the ruling elite
Hundreds mourn in Syria’s Homs after deadly mosque bombing
- Officials have said the preliminary investigations indicate explosive devices were planted inside the mosque but have not yet publicly identified a suspect
HOMS: Hundreds of mourners gathered Saturday despite rain and cold outside of a mosque in the Syrian city of Homs where a bombing the day before killed eight people and wounded 18.
The crowd gathered next to the Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib Mosque in the Wadi Al-Dhahab neighborhood, where the population is predominantly from the Alawite minority, before driving in convoys to bury the victims.
Officials have said the preliminary investigations indicate explosive devices were planted inside the mosque but have not yet publicly identified a suspect.
A little-known group calling itself Saraya Ansar Al-Sunna claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted on its Telegram channel, in which it indicated that the attack intended to target members of the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shia Islam whom hard-line Islamists consider to be apostates.
The same group had previously claimed a suicide attack in June in which a gunman opened fire and then detonated an explosive vest inside a Greek Orthodox church in Dweil’a, on the outskirts of Damascus, killing 25 people as worshippers prayed on a Sunday.
A neighbor of the mosque, who asked to be identified only by the honorific Abu Ahmad (“father of Ahmad“) out of security concerns, said he was at home when he heard the sound of a “very very strong explosion.”
He and other neighbors went to the mosque and saw terrified people running out of it, he said. They entered and began trying to help the wounded, amid blood and scattered body parts on the floor.
While the neighborhood is primarily Alawite, he said the mosque had always been open to members of all sects to pray.
“It’s the house of God,” he said. “The mosque’s door is open to everyone. No one ever asked questions. Whoever wants to enter can enter.”
Mourners were unable to enter the mosque to pray Saturday because the crime scene remained cordoned off, so they prayed outside.
Some then marched through the streets chanting “Ya Ali,” in reference to the Prophet Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law whom Shiite Muslims consider to be his rightful successor.
