‘People are destitute’: Lebanon’s spiralling prices fuel fears of social unrest - Middle East Eye

Lebanon’s fuel prices have doubled since the start of the US-Israel war on Iran, sparking public outcry as the country’s weary residents say the ever-higher cost of living is once again pushing them to the brink.

Fuel prices surged to almost $1.60 per litre in Lebanon this week, amid a global rise in costs that has seen widespread protests in neighbouring Syria.

Three years of conflict with Israel and wars across the region have further decimated an already battered Lebanese economy.

The Lebanese trade union federation urged the government to declare a state of economic emergency on Monday and threatened to announce an open-ended general strike next week.

Although President Joseph Aoun has said the government will address the unions’ demands, the cash-strapped state has little capacity to ease the impact of rising prices on essential goods.

Fears of social unrest have been further stoked by recent protests that erupted across several parts of Syria after its government sharply increased fuel prices. 

Bassam, a Lebanese furniture-removal truck driver, told Middle East Eye that the situation is becoming unbearable.  

“It’s really difficult for everyone,” said Bassam, who lives in Beirut’s southern suburbs, which bore the brunt of Israel’s heavy bombardment during the war.

“The cost of living is so high, there are people who can't afford to eat. There are people who seriously can’t even afford a loaf of bread anymore, especially after going through the war and being out of work, and now this petrol crisis," he said.

Lebanon’s economy is expected to contract by 6.4 percent in 2026, after renewed fighting between Hezbollah and Israel in March shattered the modest recovery it had recorded since a 2024 ceasefire, according to the most recent World Bank report.

The country faced financial collapse in late 2019 after banks defaulted, locking millions of depositors out of their accounts. Today, the Lebanese banking sector is carrying more than $72bn in accumulated losses and public debt stands at 176.5 percent of GDP.

For Lebanese, there is no reprieve from the crushing pressure of rising inflation, which has reached double digits for each of the past five years. Since the crash, their purchasing power has been all but wiped out as the country’s currency lost more than 98 percent of its value against the dollar. 

Ihab Abou Zeineddine, a father of two, earns $600 per month working as a driver for a family. He told MEE that it’s barely enough to make ends meet. 

“You’re too embarrassed to go into a shop with $20, you can’t buy anything with that,” he said.

For years, the government has intervened in wheat markets to regulate the price of bread. But last week, the Ministry of Economy raised bread prices for the second time this year, citing rising production costs, driven primarily by higher fuel prices.

The Federation of Bakery and Oven Trade Unions warned in response that the continuing rise in prices is “placing the bakery sector and the Lebanese people, particularly the working classes, in an extremely precarious situation”.

More than five months after a ceasefire with Israel was announced, the war-torn country could face further unrest as transport-sector unions and federations call for a nationwide mobilisation next Wednesday.

Ibtissam, an aesthetician living in a town around 20km southeast of Beirut, says she has been carpooling to get to her appointments across the capital. 

“People are angry. Why are they not going on strike or protesting? I don’t know. I don’t know why people are staying silent like this.”