At the time of writing, the death toll in Lebanon from the Israeli bombing was just shy of 3,000, with more than 13,000 wounded. More than 1,130 schools and centres have been opened to host the displaced. Around 90% of them are now at maximum capacity. At least a million people have been displaced internally, while 178,000 (including 12,000 Arab and foreign nationals) have left Lebanon via Beirut Airport. From 23 September to 31 October, more than 360,000 Syrians and 177,000 Lebanese have crossed into Syria.
Lebanon’s Economy and Trade Minister Amin Salam estimates the damage to houses, offices, factories, healthcare facilities, agricultural land, and infrastructure to be around $20bn—a figure that goes up almost hourly.
A grim picture
The country’s gross domestic product (GDP) is down by 8-12%, unemployment is up by 20%, and the government’s emergency plan estimates monthly relief costs for the displaced at $250m. The emergency aid pledged at the recent Paris conference ($800m) covers three winter months if fully honoured, assuming Israel does not impose a full blockade.
Read more: Lebanon emergency aid is forthcoming, but not nearly enough
Lebanon was in no fit state to absorb this. Its total economic and banking collapse occurred on 17 October 2019. The World Bank ranks this as one of the three worst global financial meltdowns in the past 170 years. Recently, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) placed Lebanon on its ‘grey list’ of countries under special scrutiny, only increasing the jeopardy.
