Tuesday 4th August was a beautiful, sunny day in the Lebanese capital of Beirut. It was warm and there was a clear blue sky, but the streets were quiet, with none of the levity residents have long associated with this normally carefree and chaotic city. Lebanon’s recent economic crash, a fresh bout of political dysfunction and the Covid-19 pandemic had all combined to create an atmosphere of anxiety. Many felt that Lebanon had hit rock bottom. What else could possibly go wrong?
“I came to work early that evening, ordered a coffee at Bartartine next door and had a chat with the waiter. He knows exactly how I like my coffee because he brings it to me every day,” says Tommy Tabib. Tabib is the owner of L’osteria, a bar in the middle of Mar Mikhael, a street next to the port of Beirut that’s lined with hundreds of little pubs, restaurants and cafés. “We had a chat about how he was hoping to leave the country, how he was planning to study abroad – such a bright guy.”