A vendor arranges his zucchini stock at a market in Beirut (Credit: Issam Abdallah/Reuters)
BEIRUT — Agriculture Minister Abbas Hajj Hassan tweeted on Thursday denouncing a recent theft “attack” on Beirut’s vegetable market. "The attack on the vegetable market in the capital Beirut is a crime and the perpetrators must be held accountable,” read the tweet, adding that Tripoli’s vegetable market witnessed a similar case of theft.
Here’s what we know:
• On Wednesday at dawn, electric cables and detergents inside the vegetable market in Beirut were stolen. Preliminary estimates say the value of the loot does not exceed $10,000, according to local media reports.
• Three weeks ago, Tripoli’s vegetable market, which is the second largest in Lebanon, was also attacked. Generators, refrigerators, power poles and sanitation equipment were looted by a gang.
• Syndicate of vegetable and fruit retail traders head Azzam Shaabou told the media that “only doors were not stolen” during the attack in Tripoli.
• This incident is part of what can be described as an uptick in crime in Lebanon, as statistics show the number of thefts rose by 266 percent in 2021.
• Around 82 percent of the Lebanese population lives in multidimensional poverty. Lebanon has been in financial trouble since 2019, when the Lebanese lira started losing its value, now trading just above LL 27,000 to the dollar on the parallel market. In addition, subsidies on most essential goods have been partially or completely lifted, including medication and fuel, rendering them too expensive for most of the population.