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Coronavirus: Lebanon's woes worsen as country pushed to the brink
May 27, 2020
For the past two months, Khaldoon Rifaa has not been able to work as a driver because of Lebanon's lockdown.
He is now back on the road, operating a minivan along the coastal motorway from his home city of Tripoli to the capital, Beirut.
But standing on the street, he is struggling to find any paying customers to fill up his vehicle.
"Before my life was good," says the father-of-five. "I'd work and I could feed my children."
"But now, there's no work - there's nothing. I don't even have the money to buy washing powder."
Khaldoon says he has wracked up debts of $2,000 (£1,640; €1,840) to provide for his family and even then is four months behind on the rent.
Image caption Like many Lebanese, Khaldoon Rifaa is suffering due to the country's multiple crises
Like many others in Lebanon, he has suddenly been plunged into poverty in a country that has hit breaking point.
Some are warning that the scale of the catastrophe may be more devastating than the 15-year civil war , which raged from 1975 to 1990.
Soaring costs
Even before coronavirus hit, Lebanon was experiencing the worst economic crisis in the country's history, which triggered large anti-government protests late last year.
While the authorities have been praised for their response to the virus, almost half the country's six million people are now living below the poverty line.
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