A fruit tree on Anwar's land in the Chouf, February 2026. (Credit: Mohammad Yassine/L'Orient-Le Jour; montage by Céline Bejjani/L'Orient-Le Jour)
Six years after the start of Lebanon's economic collapse, and with the war between Hezbollah and Israel having devastated parts of the country since October 2023, L’Orient-Le Jour met Lebanese from different walks of life to understand how they have had to reinvent their daily lives and rethink their plans for the future in order to adapt to the country's new economic reality — if not simply to survive.In his small white stone house in Morhanieh, in the Chouf, Anwar welcomes visitors with mountain hospitality: "Consider this a new family of friends!" Yet the man is worn down — not by the 2019 crisis, but by the successive crises that have battered agriculture for more than a decade. The 60-year-old recalls a time when the orchards he inherited from his ancestors were enough to finance his children's education,...
Six years after the start of Lebanon's economic collapse, and with the war between Hezbollah and Israel having devastated parts of the country since October 2023, L’Orient-Le Jour met Lebanese from different walks of life to understand how they have had to reinvent their daily lives and rethink their plans for the future in order to adapt to the country's new economic reality — if not simply to survive.In his small white stone house in Morhanieh, in the Chouf, Anwar welcomes visitors with mountain hospitality: "Consider this a new family of friends!" Yet the man is worn down — not by the 2019 crisis, but by the successive crises that have battered agriculture for more than a decade. The 60-year-old recalls a time when the orchards he inherited from his ancestors were enough to finance his children's...
