Beirut, Lebanon – Shortly after Mario Habib opened his barber shop in 2006, a war broke out between Israel and Hezbollah. Twenty years on, he’s living through another war.The shop has become a fixture of his Furn el-Shebbak neighbourhood. Mario, a 51-year-old with tattoos and short black hair, slips in jokes as he cuts his clients’ hair, a steady stream visiting throughout the day.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of listBut Mario has noticed that he isn’t as busy as he used to be. Israel’s war on Lebanon and the US-Israel war on Iran are damaging Lebanon’s economy. Prices are rising as a result of supply issues – particularly of oil from the Gulf region, which has largely stopped since the US and Iran blockaded the Strait of Hormuz. And, in Lebanon, which had already been suffering from an economic crisis, there is less work, and people are losing their jobs.“The price of running the generator is killing me,” he said. “Everything has gotten more expensive, the price of petrol doubled, the supermarket is more expensive, even the products [I use for my business] got more expensive.”Lebanon’s government had been positive about the country’s economy last year, with the World Bank recording a modest 3.5 percent GDP growth in 2025.But with the country back in the throes of war and the global impact from the war on Iran, that growth appears to have been …
