The U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, have sent economic shock waves across the Mideast. In Lebanon, those woes have been compounded by the country’s existing economic problems and by largely unregulated markets that are vulnerable to price gouging.
Bar and restaurant owner Riad Aboulteif speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at his bar on Hamra Street in Beirut, May 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
A bulldozer clears the rubble where a sports clothing shop was destroyed in a previous Israeli airstrike in Chiyah, a southern Beirut suburb, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
A man inspects his damaged car amid the rubble of shops destroyed in previous Israeli airstrikes in the Hosh neighborhood of Tyre, southern Lebanon, April 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
People spend time at an almost empty bar on Hamra Street in Beirut, May 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
