Lebanon damage could exceed $20B

As Israeli airstrikes bombard southern Beirut, a new report estimated that Lebanon’s economic losses from the war could exceed $20 billion. According to Lebanon-based outlet L’Orient Today, the report estimated that the percentage of people living in extreme poverty could double to at least 80% in heavily bombarded regions.

The findings follow a United Nations report that said the Israel-Hezbollah conflict will wipe 9% off Lebanon’s GDP, exacerbating its yearslong economic downturn. But thousands of displaced residents from southern Lebanon have boosted the economic fortunes of Beirut’s once-thriving commercial district by filling its hotels and restaurants — one shop owner told the Associated Press that it had been revived “in a wrong way.”