Within shouting distance of the cratered shoreline that is now the Beirut port, a statue dedicated to the Lebanese diaspora has somehow remained standing despite the force of Tuesday's blast. A survivor is taken out of the rubble after the massive explosion in Beirut, Lebanon, on Tuesday. That it comes on the heels of years of crippling blows makes Tuesday's tragedy — in the uncharacteristically dark words of a good friend in Beirut — a "knockout punch." Punch after crippling punch left Lebanon on the brink of failure. For Lebanon, conflict, negligence, corruption and impunity have long claimed the lives and the futures of its people — among the reasons so many have been forced to leave.

Source: CBC News August 06, 2020 13:48 UTC