Escalation, fears grow on the border between Israel and
Lebanon. Many in the Lebanese capital of Beirut say
the country's economy can't afford a new war. The
hostilities between Hezbollah and the Israeli military have taken a
particularly hard toll on bus drivers says Ali A he
should be out driving his popular number four route but
he's sitting here smoking Shisha. Instead the van is
parked over there as you can see, look where
it's parked on the side, the whole country is
stopped. The situation in the whole country is bad
. Nothing is working in the country. Fellow driver
Ali Mohammed Al Mokdad says he's simply given up.
I gave back the van firstly because there is no
work. And secondly, because I don't have the
rent fee for the van. The situation is bad
. This crisis is bad on everyone. There is
no work at all and this is why I gave
back. The Reuters wrote along with Mohammed Noon who
while speaking on the phone said that the recent hostilities
are directly correlated with fewer fares. We used to
pick up seven or eight riders on this road.
Now we pass and no one asks for us,
Lebanon had already been hollowed out by a five year
economic crisis resulting in lost jobs and less need for
daily commutes. Hezbollah and Israel have been trading rocket
fire for nearly 10 months in parallel with the war
in Gaza with exchanges mostly limited to the border area
. But the effects have been felt nationwide.