Lebanon

Along busy Hamra street, in west Beirut, Syrians fleeing their country's civil war have opened up scores of shops that compete with older ones run by Lebanese already hurting because of a sharp drop in tourism. Restaurants run by Syrians offer menus that rival Lebanon's famed Mediterranean cuisine, selling traditional dishes from the Syrian cities of Aleppo and Damascus. On street corners, Syrians now sell everything from vegetables, falafel and flower arrangements, assembled and wrapped Syrian style. Indeed, many of the neighbourhood shops' employees, lorry drivers, and delivery boys are Syrian - as increasingly are the city's doormen. "Lebanon is in need of labourers," Nabil, a Syrian waiter, told The Associated Press. "Syrian labourers are prepared to work longer hours than Lebanese." But the influx of Syrian refugees in desperate search of work is posing additional problems to an economy that's long struggled with spillover from the Syrian conflict. More than a million Syrians have fled to Lebanon - a country of 4.5 million before the Syrian crisis. And that's put a strain on its already dilapidated infrastructure and health, education and electricity services. The influx of Syrians has also aggravated social tensions, with many Lebanese merchants and workers grumbling about the competition for jobs and business. Many Lebanese businesses compensate by hiring Syrians who will work for very little salary, and Lebanese workers claim their bosses can now ignore their demands. Kamel Wazne, a professor of finance at the American University of Beirut, says Syrian merchants and workers are competing head-to-head for jobs with the Lebanese. He says the Syrian workers do not pay taxes, open businesses illegally and work at half the price of their Lebanese competitors. "It is competing with the Lebanese and forcing the Lebanese business community to shut down," said Wazne. Perhaps more worryingly, he says that the economic competition could fuel long-existing political tensions. The Lebanese government is "divided between the people who are supporting the regime and people who are against the regime," he explains. "Lebanon is a volcano waiting to explode," he adds ominously. Wedged between Syria and Israel, and with a weak central government, Lebanon has long been a casualty of regional politics and its own perpetual sectarian strife. The country has been without a government since March, and parliament is all but paralysed because of political disputes. Lebanon has also borne the brunt of the war next door for the past two years. Not only has the country seen episodes of sectarian violence and kidnappings, it has also witnessed multiple bombings in recent months. The latest of those attacks - in the northern city of Tripoli in August - killed 47 people and injured more than 400. In particular, the spillover has devastated the tourism sector, a mainstay of the Lebanese economy. This summer saw few of the Gulf Arabs who normally pack restaurants and cafes to enjoy Lebanon's cuisine, smoke fragrant water-pipes and hit its beach fronts. The slowdown in tourism hasn't helped the Lebanese economy, which was already suffering before the war in Syria. Lebanon has a public debt estimated at 58 billion dollars US dollars - or about 135 percent of its GDP. Typifying the tension over the influx of Syrian refugees has been an ongoing series of strikes this summer at Lebanon's state-owned electricity company. One worker said that the company tried to hire Syrians at a power plant north of Beirut. "They tried to bring Syrian workers to the Zouk power plant but we stopped them and we are pretty sure they will not do it again," he said. Indeed, unemployment rates are to double to more than 20 percent. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/cbe41439b18534b3a42ac55d69c68534 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork

• published: 31 Jul 2015
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