‘I don’t know how we will survive’: War-damaged Lebanese businesses face the unknown
BBCA twisted and broken metal sign sits amid a three-story-high pile of debris and burned property in southern Beirut. “Spare Parts. Jeep Cherokee,” it says.
The only sign is that the ground floor of this destroyed building was once occupied by a busy car parts dealership – one of many such businesses destroyed by Israel’s heavy bombardment of Dahih, the capital’s largely Hezbollah-controlled southern suburb.
“We were pretty confident that we wouldn’t be attacked, because of the nature of the people here – the general public, the people, the business owners,” said Imad Abdelhaq, staring at the ruined building.
Abdelhak’s garage, next door, escaped the worst of the airstrike, but he was waiting to find out if the impact would cause the entire structure to collapse.
Across Lebanon, business owners are reeling after intense clashes between Israel and Hezbollah left Israeli bombs raining down on residential, commercial and industrial parts of the country, destroying shops, warehouses and warehouses.
A ceasefire brokered by the US and France, which is largely holding, stopped the fighting last week, but for many of the country’s business owners and workers the pain is just beginning.
Ibrahim Mortada, another car parts dealer in Dahieh whose building was attacked, said, “I have lost $20,000 and my only source of income.” “I don’t know how we can survive,” he said.
Like Abdelhaq, Mortada was waiting for engineers to assess the building, but it was clear to anyone standing beneath it that the structure was unsafe. The top seven floors were destroyed by the direct attack. Huge slabs of concrete and loose debris hung precariously over Mortada’s head as he attempted to clear what was left of his compound.
“My business has been open here for 23 years,” he said dejectedly. “Now we are trusting God to help us.”
Business owners in Dahih and beyond are also relying on the powerful Lebanese political and militant group Hezbollah, which has said it will help assess damage to homes and businesses and give people cash to pay rent and buy new furniture. Will start this week. And start rebuilding.
On Wednesday in the southern city of Nabatieh, where its Ottoman-era market and surrounding businesses were completely destroyed, people were still waiting for Hezbollah evaluators to arrive.
“No one has contacted us – no one from the government, no one from any group,” said Niran Ali, a 56-year-old woman whose shop, Zen Baby Fashion, had disappeared along with almost all its stock.
Scanning the debris, Ali noticed a pink, soot-stained pair of girls’ tracksuit bottoms, hanging from a steel girder protruding from the pile. “These were mine,” she said, running her finger over the black fabric. “They’re probably the only thing left of my business.”
Like others in Nabatieh, Ali had heard that Hezbollah was going to start by assessing homes (the group has promised $5,000 per home to help pay rent and $8,000 to replace furniture) and then Will move towards businesses, where losses are very high.
Jalal Nasser, who owned a large complex containing a coffee shop, restaurant and library, returned to the city on the first day of the ceasefire to find that the complex had been reduced to burnt husks by a massive airstrike on the street. He estimated he suffered losses of up to $250,000.
He set up a small table and chair on the side of the building overlooking the main road and smoked his shisha. “To give people hope,” he said.
As for where the money for reconstruction will come from, “That’s the big question,” he said with a shrug. “But we are waiting for Hezbollah. I am sure they will.”
The World Bank estimates that the war has cost the Lebanese economy at least $8.5 billion. This would be a huge sum for any similar nation, but for Lebanon it comes after a financial crisis in 2019 and a devastating port explosion the following year.
After the last war with Israel, in 2006, money came from Iran and the Gulf countries to rebuild Lebanon. This time, it is not clear whether that tap will turn on or not.
“There is nothing yet in terms of allocations for reconstruction,” Nasser Yassin, the environment minister and head of the government’s crisis cell, told the BBC on Wednesday.
“We have received some good signs, some promises from Lebanon’s friends,” he said. “But our estimate is that this time we will need billions of dollars. “The level of destruction is probably six to 10 times greater than in 2006.”
Israel has stated that it was acting solely against Hezbollah, and not against the Lebanese population, in its attacks on Nabatieh. Yassin accused the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) of “arbicide” for the widespread destruction of the city.
On a visit to Nabatieh on Wednesday afternoon, Imran Riza, the UN deputy special coordinator for Lebanon, told the BBC that the scale of what needed to be done was “huge”.
“The last two and a half months, in particular, have been devastating on a massive scale,” he said. “It’s a long way back.”
The historical market of Nabatieh is approximately 500 years old. It has been repeatedly attacked by Israel in the decades since 1978. Unlike previous attacks, this time the destruction was complete.
“This is the worst for Nabatieh, the worst war we have seen,” said Youssef Mouzain, owner of a clothing store in the market. Some leftover clothes in his shop were hanging on the railing covered in soot. He estimated they suffered about $80,000 in damages.
In 2006 Hezbollah paid substantial sums of money to affected business owners. This time, they had no idea what they would find, or who they would find. “But we’ve lost everything,” he said. “So someone’s got to give us something.”
Additional reporting by Joanna Mazoeb. Photos by Joel Gunter.
