One of the corridors of the City Center shopping mall in Hazmieh, on March 12, 2026. (Credit: Philippe Hage Boutros/L’Orient Today)
Regular traffic, nearly full parking lots, stores open... Anyone who walked this week between the Kfarshima industrial zone and the City Center mall in Hazmieh — two bustling Beirut business hubs located just a few hundred meters from a southern suburb still smoldering from Israeli bombardments — would have had trouble realizing that Lebanon has been at war for nearly two weeks.Asked about this contrast between the lively activity in these areas and the security situation, business leaders explain that they had prepared for a break in the 2024 cease-fire between Hezbollah and the Israeli state, as the resumption of fighting comes in the wake of the Israeli-American war against Iran."So far, there are constants, such as the fact that fighting is mainly concentrated in certain areas and that a large number of displaced people are...
Regular traffic, nearly full parking lots, stores open... Anyone who walked this week between the Kfarshima industrial zone and the City Center mall in Hazmieh — two bustling Beirut business hubs located just a few hundred meters from a southern suburb still smoldering from Israeli bombardments — would have had trouble realizing that Lebanon has been at war for nearly two weeks.Asked about this contrast between the lively activity in these areas and the security situation, business leaders explain that they had prepared for a break in the 2024 cease-fire between Hezbollah and the Israeli state, as the resumption of fighting comes in the wake of the Israeli-American war against Iran."So far, there are constants, such as the fact that fighting is mainly concentrated in certain areas and that a large number of displaced people...
